Takashi Usami

Meanwhile, in the first hearing of his trial before the Yokohama District Court, Takashi Usami, 64, former vice president of MMC and former chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., pleaded not guilty to the charge of professional negligence resulting in death.

Katsuhiko Kawasoe

Former MMC executives Yuzo Murata, 67, and Tatsuro Nakagami, 62, pleaded guilty.

Kawasoe, 68, expressed regret over the accident, but claimed, "I do not bear any criminal responsibility because I was not told of the defective clutch system at the time."

Kawasoe and the three others were charged with professional negligence resulting in death after being arrested in June.

According to the indictment, MMC was aware of the defective clutch by May 1996.

Yuzo Murata

It says Kawasoe and the three others falsified reports on the defect to the Transport Ministry to avoid vehicle recalls in 2000, when they were senior executives at MMC.

They concealed the defect despite revelations earlier that year that they had covered up other vehicle defects.

The defective clutch caused an Oct. 19, 2002, accident when a truck's drive shaft fell off on a highway in Yamaguchi Prefecture, disabling the brake. The 39-year-old driver was killed when the vehicle hit a roadside structure at an intersection, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said Oct. 6 that MMC opted not to recall the roughly 92,000 trucks with the defective clutch because it would have cost the company about ¥9 billion.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 16, 2004
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