Internal Review on False Investigation

The organizations for law enforcement issued reports on false investigation on a spray dryer manufacturer, Ohkawara Kakohki, on July 7th. One of those organizations, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) admitted that the investigation toward managers of the company about suspected illegal export of their products was in short of basic principle for investigation, and the top leader of TMPD publicly apologized it. However, it showed certain limit in internal review on false investigation.

The police arrested in 2020 three managers of Ohkawara Kakohki, including its president, with suspicion of illegal export of spray dryers which could be developed for weapons. Although the spray dryer was not fulfilling condition of illegal export, the police ignored negative information and maintained the managers in custody, one of whom died in detention.

 

Tokyo High Court found in May that the investigation by police had been illegal and the decision was fixed with abandonment of appealing to the supreme court. The police and public prosecutors apologized about inconvenience for related people and promised that they would review what had gone wrong.

 

According to the report of TMPD, it was Public Safety Division that was in charge of investigation of the case of Ohkawawara Kakohki. The division did not revise its investigation plan that the company had made illegal export, despite information from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry which was negative on the unilateral view of Public Safety Division.

 

The Superintendent General of TMPD, Yuji Sakoda, held a press conference and expressed deep apology to Ohkawara. It was highly unusual for a TMPD superintendent general to have a press conference on specific issue and publicly apologize to former suspect. The TMPD announced punishment on nineteen officers, including retired staffs, in the Public Safety Division.

 

The National Police Agency also delivered its own report on the case, which admitted its failure in advising for appropriate investigation. The agency instructs its organization to be careful in every investigation, including recording interviews to suspects. The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office regretted that it should check negative information on illegality of Ohkawara, but it punished no one in the office.

 

As seen in the case of Iwao Hakamada, who had been detained for forty-eight years, the police has traditionally a tendency that it investigate a crime case along with their own story they imagined. The TMPD was so insistent on their own story that Ohkawara Kakohki must have imported military-related equipment without any concrete evidence. The report of three law enforcement organizations indicated no direction how they would do to get rid of that tradition, showing a limit of internal review.

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