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Former Mitsubishi Motors chief arrested over defects

A former head of Mitsubishi Motors Corp was arrested yesterday on suspicion of professional negligence that led to the death of a truck driver two years ago, the auto maker said.

Japanese police arrested Katsuhiko Kawasoe, 63. The suspect headed Mitsubishi Motors until late 2000, when he stepped down in disgrace to take responsibility for Mitsubishi Motors's hiding of safety records and defects from authorities.

"We take this matter very seriously and intend to fully cooperate in investigations to shed light on circumstances surrounding the accident," Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement.

Last month, several former company executives, including one-time vice president Takashi Usami, were indicted in a separate defect case in which a woman died when she was hit by a wheel that came loose from a Mitsubishi Fuso truck in 2002.

The cases come despite Mitsubishi Motors's efforts over the past four years to clean up its act after being nabbed in 2000 for hiding safety records and repairing vehicles secretly for two decades, in the industry's worst recall scandal ever.

Mitsubishi Motors's new boss, Yoichiro Okazaki, has vowed to reform the opaque corporate culture at Japan's fourth-largest car maker. However, that pledge has fallen on deaf ears as customers steered away from its cars, sending domestic sales down 56 percent last month.

In the latest case, police believe the fatal accident in Yamaguchi prefecture, at the southernmost tip of Japan's main island, could have been avoided had the automaker issued an open recall, Kyodo news agency quoted investigative sources as saying.

Police also arrested five other former executives to pursue their responsibility in the accident.

The truck, which had a defective clutch housing, was made by what is now Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp, which was spun off from Mitsubishi Motors in January last year. The unlisted truck and bus maker is now owned 65 percent by DaimlerChrysler AG and 20 percent by Mitsubishi Motors.

Fuso issued a recall last month of about 170,000 heavy-duty trucks that could have a similar defect, admitting that it had concealed the problem for the past eight years.

The scandals come at a bad time for Mitsubishi Motors, which is trying to rebuild itself for the second time since the last blow-out in 2000.
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