Photo/Illutration The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in the capital’s Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

About 20 current and former senior law enforcement officials are facing disciplinary measures over the wrongful arrests and indictments of three officials of a Yokohama-based manufacturer.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency also plan to establish systems for monitoring investigations to prevent false accusations in the future.

In March 2020, the MPD’s Public Security Bureau arrested Ohkawara Kakohki Co. President Masaaki Okawara and two others from the company on suspicion of exporting spray dryers that could be diverted to military use in violation of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office subsequently indicted the three individuals—but withdrew the indictment in July 2021.

In a civil lawsuit, the Tokyo High Court ruled in May that the Public Security Bureau’s investigation and arrests, and the indictment by prosecutors, were illegal, upholding a lower court decision.

The MPD and the prosecutors decided not to appeal, making the verdict final.

The MPD will soon compile the results of its internal review of the investigation into the case. The review is expected to show that senior Public Security Bureau officials failed to supervise the investigation properly.

The National Public Safety Commission, the NPA and the MPD are considering a pay cut or lesser disciplinary measures against about 20 current and former senior officials in supervisory roles during the investigation, sources said.

Those facing discipline include at least one career-track bureaucrat employed by the NPA.

The MPD review is expected to note that reporting to the Public Security Bureau leadership had become a mere formality, and that evidence found in the investigation that was unfavorable to the police’s case was not shared with senior officials, sources said.

Separately, the NPA concluded that the MPD failed to adequately examine and address the flaws with the investigation after the indictment was dropped and that there were also problems with the NPA’s own guidance and coordination, sources said.

The NPA plans to introduce preventive measures for public security police nationwide, such as audio and video recording of suspect interrogations during investigations into illegal exports and other crimes.

The MPD, for its part, plans to organize a new investigative meeting led by the chief of the Public Security Bureau for significant cases handled by the bureau.

The MPD will also create a unit within the bureau’s general affairs division to guide and supervise investigations.

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