THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
March 4, 2024 at 19:05 JST
Police investigators carry materials seized during a search of Bigmotor Co.’s headquarters in Tokyo’s Minato Ward in September. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Tokyo police referred 13 people connected to the used car chain Bigmotor Co., including a former vice president, to prosecutors over damage to roadside trees on March 4, investigative sources said.
The 35-year-old former vice president and others are suspected of clearing trees around four Bigmotor dealerships in the capital between February 2021 and July 2023 by cutting them down or spraying herbicides, the sources said.
The trees were planted along public roads. They were under the management of the Tokyo metropolitan government.
The former vice president was involved in vandalism around a Bigmotor dealership in Tama, western Tokyo, where about 20 Asiatic dogwood trees were felled, the sources said.
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department searched Bigmotor’s headquarters as well as nine dealerships in the capital, including the Tama outlet, in September and the former vice president's home in December, both on suspicion of property destruction.
The MPD also accepted a complaint filed by the Tokyo metropolitan government in January over damage around seven dealerships in the capital, including the Tama outlet.
In a related development, Kanagawa prefectural police arrested a 51-year-old Bigmotor employee in January on suspicion of cutting down roadside trees around the Kawasaki outlet in 2022 by instructing the store manager and another employee.
The suspect, who was tasked with “environment improvement promotion,” would visit Bigmotor dealerships to inspect cleanliness in and around the outlets, police said.
The manager and the employee at the Kawasaki outlet followed his directives to cut down trees for fear of being demoted or relegated to a lesser position, they said.
According to the MPD, police in Tokyo and 19 prefectures had received a total of 51 damage reports from municipalities and other parties on roadside trees around Bigmotor dealerships as of Jan. 30.
(This article was written by Minami Endo, Shomei Nagatsuma and Yuji Masuyama.)
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