Ohkawara Pres. Asks Tokyo Police Not to Appeal Damages Suit Ruling

   Tokyo, June 9 (Jiji Press)--The president of Japanese spray-dryer maker Ohkawara Kakohki Co. on Monday asked the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department not to appeal the recent ruling by Tokyo High Court that found the MPD's investigations into the company illegal and ordered the payment of damages.
   The 76-year-old president, Masaaki Okawara, visited the MPD headquarters in central Tokyo, handing in documents requesting that the truth about the false accusations be revealed and that the police officers involved in the investigation be punished strictly.
   He was arrested by the MPD's Public Security Bureau in 2020 along with two others of the company, based in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, for allegedly exporting without permission a spray dryer that could be repurposed to weapons production in violation of the foreign exchange law. They were indicted later that year but the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office withdrew the indictments the following year, saying that doubts had arisen about whether the spray-dryer in question was among the products subject to export controls.
   Also on Monday, Okawara submitted to the MPD some 41,400 online signatures collected since May 29, the day after the high court ruling was handed down, calling for the ruling not be appealed.
   According to informed sources, the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments are not planning to appeal the ruling. The deadline for filing an appeal is Wednesday.

(2025/06/09-15:55)

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