Toyoda defends 'close friend' Hamp after arrest

TOKYO -- Akio Toyoda defended his "close friend" and world-wide communications leader Julie Hamp a day after her arrest for allegedly importing narcotic pain-killers and assured the police investigation will demonstrate the firm's first feminine upper level executive had no intent of breaking Japanese legislation.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s president stated there are still several unknowns in the situation and refrained from replying some delicate queries, citing legal and privacy issues. But Toyoda commended Hamp's character and contributions to the business and deterred a hurry to justice.
In an indication of contrition, the world's largest carmaker also pulled advertisements from essential evening tele-vision slots in Japan to sustain a muted profile as national media latched onto the story. Toyota also canceled a press event to announce a brand new range of turbo-diesel engines.
"I apologize for the confusion surrounding current occasions," Toyoda said at a hurriedly named evening news conference late Friday, the day after authorities detained Hamp at a Tokyo hotel. "In addition to really being a close buddy of mine, Julie Hamp is a useful member of Toyota's team."
Toyoda applauded the American businesswoman's attempts to acculturate to Japan as the primary non-Japanese Toyota executive to take up permanent residency status in the firm's homebase. He also re-affirmed his dedication to diversifying top management with more non-Japanese executives.
"We're assured, nonetheless, that after the probe is complete, it'll be shown there was no intent on Julie's component to break any regulation," mentioned Toyoda, who attempted to encourage a more international mindset in the firm's Japan functions with a staff shakeup in March.
'My kids'
At that time, Toyota promoted Hamp, 55, as well as a Frenchman and an African American guy to unprecedented positions of strength at its worldwide headquarters. The aim: Inject a broader view into an top management controlled almost entirely by elderly Japanese guys.
President Toyoda, grandson of the car-maker creator as well as the next family member in the helm, plans to re-form Toyota into a company more representative of its own worldwide reach.
As the planet 's largest automaker, Toyota derives about three quarters of its own revenue from overseas. About 80-percent of the organization 's 338,875 workers are outside Japan.
Toyoda stated the brand new staff precedence will not change.
"We will preserve this variety marketing plan," he explained, adding that he felt a private bond of obligation to Hamp because she was an immediate report to him.
"All of them are like my kids. Protecting the kids is the duty of the parents," Toyoda stated. "Ms. Hamp is a really significant, trustworthy buddy."
But as the week exhibits, ethnic complexities nevertheless provide road blocks.
Necklace package
Hamp was named managing official and chief communications officer in April. The previous General Motors and PepsiCo executive told authorities she didn't believe she'd imported an unlawful material, a spokesman for Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Division stated.
That's particularly so with Japan's drug control regulations, therefore tight they even forbid over-the-counter medications frequent in America, like Sudafed or Actifed.
The police spokesman stated oxycontin was sent via global post in the US to Tokyo's Narita Airport. The bundle was intercepted by customs agents in the airport on June 11, he explained.
While oxycontin is a lawfully prescribed medication in America and Japan, it is import is greatly controlled with a thatch of paper work and government approvals, stated the state at the Conformation and Narcotics Office of Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
With appropriate acceptance, individuals may import the drug via hand-luggage, but delivering it by post is prohibited in most instances, he explained. Those traveling using a prescription in the US must submit an application an application from Japan's wellness ministry and obtain blessing before arriving in Japan, he stated.
On Friday, Japanese media reports mentioned police investigators as stating that the package addressed to Hamp and tagged "necklaces" included 57 oxycodone pills entombed in the underside or in deals. The package included plaything necklaces and pendants in addition to the tablets, they stated.
Quick result
Toyoda said his business was working fully with all the probe.
Senior Controlling Officer Shigeru Hayakawa, who had been also present at the Friday news conference, stated authorities never have searched Toyota workplaces or appeared through Hamp's documents.
Toyota executives declined to say whether Hamp had a prescription for the oxycontin or whether she had a illness that necessitated the addictive pain-killer.
Hamp was employed by Toyota Motor North America only 3 years back as the business sought to fix an image battered with a sequence of recalls and class action lawsuits.
She'd formerly invested five years at PepsiCo and, before that, 1 / 4-century at General Motors Corporation.
Hamp's arrest is an humiliation for Toyota, which had placed her as a rising-star in respiring American-design public-relations right into a closed and opaque Japanese procedure.
But Toyoda's rapid reply by personally appearing in the news conference a day after the arrest to deal with the issue revealed a noticeable improvement from his re-Action through the 2010 accidental acceleration remembers. In those days, the firm was criticized for being slow and evasive.
Hiroaki Okamoto, a criminal defense attorney in the Nakamura Worldwide Criminal-Defense Office in Tokyo who's not involved in Hamp's situation, told the Reuters wire service the many tablets meant that, if found guilty, she could face years in jail, followed by deportation.
If found guilty, it will be hard for her to gain a suspended term, even with no intention to offer, due to the amount of tablets, Okamoto informed Reuters.

It's possible for you to reach Hans Greimel at [email protected]. -- Follow Hans on

Labels:
Executives
Akio Toyoda
Julie Hamp

Toyota
Japan

Marketing

Read Source

18.06.2015
ID:2368

More news from this source:

1. Tell us about retail high achievers under 40
2. Suits target price-fixing parts makers
3. Soaring on the wings of the snowbirds
4. Volvo recalls 59,000 cars over software fault
5. Hyundai Ioniq targets Prius, but not in sales