THE chairman of Sumitomo Corp has resigned over the scandal surrounding the Japanese trading company's £1.9 billion copper trading losses.

Mr Tomiichi Akiyama (67) said he was resigning to "put closure" on the scandal. Company officials said he was taking none of the blame and would retire with the company's full benefits package.

Former star copper trader, Yasuo Hamanaka, has admitted in court that he forged the signatures of his bosses four times to keep a decade of risky trading secret and that he swindled a Sumitomo subsidiary in Hong Kong out of £580 million to cover losses.