2023-12-24 10:50:44
Judgment in a lawsuit in which the president of Okawara Kakoki (Yokohama City), a machine manufacturing company that was arrested and prosecuted for illegally exporting machinery that might be used for military purposes, but whose charges were later canceled, sought damages from the national government and Tokyo Metropolitan Government. was held at the Tokyo District Court on the 27th. The president, who was detained for nearly a year, said, “I want the court to address the responsibility of the police and prosecutors.” (Yamada Yuyuki)
◆“The incident was fabricated”: Police officer gives unusual testimony
“(The incident) was a fabrication. There was no need for an arrest.” “The senior investigative team did not take up all the negative evidence. If they had disproved the evidence, this would not have happened.”
During witness questioning in June 2023, two police officers in charge of the case gave unusual testimony criticizing the investigation at the time.
Plaintiff President Masaaki Okawara (74) recalls, “The two police officers knew that he was innocent.The days since his arrest have paid off.”
◆Can you make anthrax with a milk powder maker?
The problem was a “spray dryer” manufactured by Okawara Kakoki. This process involves drying liquid with a high-temperature heater and processing it into powder, which is used to produce powdered coffee and powdered milk. The company expanded its sales channels to overseas markets, including China, and became the manufacturer with the top market share in Japan.
Spray dryer manufactured by Okawara Kakoki and President Masaaki Okawara
In October 2018, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Department raided all parties involved on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange Act by exporting the machinery without obtaining government permission, claiming that it might be used to manufacture biological weapons. Fifty people from the Okawara side were interviewed a total of 291 times.
Although the company denied that the machine was “export-controlled,” Okawara and three others were arrested in March 2020 on suspicion of illegally exporting it to China. He was disappointed, saying, “I was fully cooperating with the investigation.”
Bank loans stopped for the company, and sales decreased by 40%. Employees conducted repeated experiments to prove that the machines were not subject to national export restrictions. To manufacture drugs such as anthrax, it is necessary to use heat to kill all bacteria inside the machine so that the people handling the machine do not become infected. However, it has been discovered that there are areas where the temperature does not rise enough for the bacteria to survive.
◆Two days following being released on bail, the former advisor died of terminal stomach cancer.
Bail was granted in February 2021. Two days later, former advisor Shizuo Aishima, then 72, who was also arrested, passed away. Aishima was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the fall of the previous year at a detention center. He repeatedly requested bail, but the court denied it. By the time he was finally suspended from detention and hospitalized, he was terminally ill. Okawara was not allowed to have contact with company officials and was not allowed to attend the funeral.
In July 2021, while preparations were underway for a criminal trial, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office suddenly withdrew the indictment. Mr. Okawara decided to file a national compensation lawsuit, saying, “He did not say he was innocent, nor did he apologize for detaining him for so long.”I want to restore trust and reveal the truth.”
The lawsuit revealed that in addition to the police’s problems, the prosecutors had also heard from employees before the indictment that there were parts of the machine that were not getting warm enough.
Okawara said, “While I had been working with integrity, both my employees and the company were hurt, and I lost a dear colleague.I don’t want a false accusation like this to happen once more.”
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