Latest news with #ForeignExchangeandForeignTradeLaw
Asahi Shimbun
21-06-2025
- Asahi Shimbun
Apologies issued to falsely accused firm; but too late, says president
Hirohide Mori, far left, from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, and Tetsuro Kamata, deputy superintendent-general of the Metropolitan Police Department, apologize to Masaaki Okawara, second from right, and other Ohkawara Kakohki Co. officials on June 20. (Tetsuro Takehana) High-ranking law enforcement officials in Tokyo apologized to past and current executives of a company that manufactures spray dryers for dragging them through an investigation that a high court concluded was illegal. Tetsuro Kamata, deputy superintendent-general of the Metropolitan Police Department, was joined by Hirohide Mori, head of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's public security division, in the June 20 mission to set matters straight. The first part of the June 20 meeting at the Yokohama headquarters of Ohkawara Kakohki Co. was open to the media. Kamata apologized for the psychological burden placed on Masaaki Okawara, the company president, and Junji Shimada, a former executive, by the investigation, while Mori begged forgiveness for acting on the request by prosecutors to hand down indictments and detain the pair. A third individual who was indicted died before his name was cleared. Okawara said the apology should have been made much earlier and added, 'I want your organization to become one where such things never happen again.' But the meeting did not go smoothly. Kamata at one point referred to Shimada as 'Yamamoto' and Mori also mixed up the name of the company. Bereaved family members of the late Shizuo Aishima, a company adviser, refused to attend the June 20 meeting on grounds they could not accept an apology unless the root cause of the miscarriage of justice was made clear. Tsuyoshi Takada, a lawyer representing the company officials, briefed reporters about what transpired during the part of the meeting closed to the media. Takada said an apology was offered on behalf of Takako Tsukabe, the prosecutor who was in charge of the case that led to the indictments. In her apology, Tsukabe said more care should have been taken before deciding to hand down indictments. But in her testimony during the lawsuit brought by Okawara and his fellow plaintiffs, Tsukabe said she would have made the same decision and felt no mistake had been made. In 2020, Okawara and his two colleagues were arrested and indicted on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law for exporting spray-drying machines that could be used for military purposes without a license. They were accused of exporting spray dryers without obtaining government permission. But before the case went to trial in 2021, prosecutors dropped the charges, having come to the realization that the plaintiffs were probably correct in their claim that the equipment was not subject to export restrictions. In May, the Tokyo High Court increased the compensation police and prosecutors were ordered to pay and ruled that the investigation was illegal because there was no rational basis for making the arrests and indictments. (This article was written by Koichi Fujimaki and Hiraku Higa.)
Asahi Shimbun
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
No appeal of major award to falsely accused firm will be filed
Ohkawara Kakohki President Masaaki Okawara, center, and other plaintiffs hold up signs declaring their victory in the Tokyo High Court ruling on May 28. (Shota Tomonaga) Police and prosecutors announced on June 11 that they will not appeal the Tokyo High Court's order to pay 166 million yen ($1.14 million) in damages for the illegal investigation of a manufacturer and exporter of spray dryers. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office apologized to Ohkawara Kakohki Co. officials and pledged to review the investigation. June 11 was the deadline for the appeal. With this decision, the high court's ruling that found the arrests and prosecutions of the plaintiffs to be illegal becomes finalized. The MPD released a statement, saying, 'We take the ruling very seriously and deeply apologize for the great burden and trouble we have caused to the parties involved by the investigation.' The MPD said that it has set up an investigation team headed by the deputy commissioner to review the problems with the investigation and compile measures to prevent a recurrence. The prosecutors office also released a statement, saying, 'We sincerely accept that the prosecution was found illegal even by the appeal court.' It said that the Supreme Prosecutors Office will examine the case in the future. In 2020, the president of the Yokohama-based company and two others were arrested and indicted on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law for exporting spray-drying machines that could be used for military purposes without a license. However, the prosecutors office canceled the indictment in 2021, just before the first trial. Prior to their arrests, the president and others had repeatedly explained that the machines 'were not subject to the requirements of export regulations and did not need a permit.' The high court in its ruling on May 28 concluded that if the MPD, which was in charge of the investigation, had conducted additional tests on the machines based on the explanation of the president and others, it would not have been deemed an illegal export. The high court also found that the original interpretation adopted by the MPD regarding export regulations was not appropriate and that there was 'no reasonable basis' for the arrests. The court also found that it was illegal for the MPD to rewrite the interrogation statement to conform to the findings of the MPD and have a former company officer sign it without explaining the contents. The high court also said that the prosecutors office failed to conduct the necessary tests, even though the company president's and others' statement had been reported to the prosecutors office. There was no reasonable basis for the prosecution and its actions were illegal, the high court ruled. In response to the ruling, the plaintiffs had submitted a written request and signatures to the MPD and the prosecutors office on June 9, urging them not to file an appeal. More than 41,000 signatures were collected online as of noon on June 8, the plaintiffs said. (This article was written by Saori Kuroda, and senior staff writer Shimpachi Yoshida.)
