The reassignment of director candidates for the audit, nominating and compensation committees follows an explosive shareholder-commissioned investigation that accused Toshiba and the government of colluding to pressure foreign investors.

On Saturday, shareholder advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) recommended that Toshiba shareholders should vote against the re-appointment of board chairman Osamu Nagayama and four other directors.

That came a day after four independent directors, all non-Japanese, said they were no longer in support of the full slate of director candidates nominated by the company for the June shareholder meeting.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by David Dolan)