Former Toyota Motor Corp executive Julie Hamp was freed from police custody yesterday after Tokyo prosecutors said they would not indict her on suspicion of illegally importing the painkiller Oxycodone into Japan.
Hamp, a US citizen who became Toyota’s chief communications officer and first female managing officer in April, had been held since her June 18 arrest. She resigned from the world’s largest automaker last week.
An official at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office told reporters that prosecutors had taken into account the “social penalty” she had already incurred with her resignation from Toyota.
Local media said on Tuesday that Hamp was unlikely to be charged because prosecutors judged there was little criminal intent in the case, which arose when her father mailed her the pills to alleviate knee pain. The highly addictive Oxycodone pills, found in a small parcel labeled “necklaces,” had been placed in packets or buried at the bottom of the box, media reported.
Yesterday was the last day that Hamp, 55, could be held without formal charges.
A former General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc executive, Hamp was promoted to her executive post at Toyota in April as part of a drive to diversify Toyota’s male-dominated, mostly Japanese lineup of senior management. She joined Toyota’s North American unit in 2012 and had just relocated to Tokyo last month.
Toyota in a statement apologized for the incident, repeating that it remained committed to “putting the right people in the right places” regardless of nationality or gender.
It added that senior managing officer Shigeru Hayakawa had been appointed to replace Hamp as chief communications officer.
Hayakawa began in the role on Monday, it said.
Oxycodone is a prescription drug in both the US and Japan. Bringing it into Japan requires prior approval from the Japanese government and it must be carried by the individual.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
RSS