Roundup: Ex-Toyota exec Hamp released after drug importing scandal

Former Toyota Motor Corp. executive Julie Hamp was released from custody by Japanese prosecutors without charge Wednesday, having been detained for three weeks after being arrested in Tokyo last month for allegedly importing the restricted narcotic painkiller oxycodone into Japan.

Tokyo prosecutors determined that Hamp was using the painkiller for a legitimate knee complaint, as had been confirmed by medical tests after her initial arrest, and that her resignation from the world's largest automaker, detention and infamy in the global press had served as punishment enough.

Specifically, prosecutors said her resigning from her executive position at Toyota was a form of "social punishment."

Hamp, 55, resigned from her post as chief communications officer, the highest held by a female at the world's largest automaker, on June 30 and while prosecutors felt they had enough evidence to indict her, meaning a custodial sentence would have been almost inevitable for Hamp, they declined to charge her as they felt justice had been served and she had suffered enough.

Hamp was kept for 20 days, 3 days less than the maximum 23 days suspects are allowed to be detained in Japan without being charged or granted bail. While suspects are being held and the case is being investigated, official plea bargaining doesn't exist, but the time is used by investigators and prosecutors to obtain confessions and apologies, and in the case of Hamp use mitigating circumstances to release her, while detaining her long enough to make an example of her, in what was seen to be a win-win for both sides.

"She has already gone through a certain level of social punishment and prosecutors took her resignation into consideration, " a spokesperson from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office told local media Wednesday.

Hamp opted not to speak to the media when she was released from the police station in Harajuku, Tokyo, at around 3 p.m. this afternoon, and was whisked away in a silver van with her lawyer. The circumstances of her release will mean, however, that she will be allowed to return to the United States without a criminal record.

Hamp had been held by Tokyo police since her June 18 arrest on suspicion she imported the opiate-based pain medication oxycodone, which Japan designates as a narcotic that requires advance permission from the health and welfare ministry to bring it into the country.

Prosecutors confirmed Wednesday that they took into account appeals from Hamp and her family in Kentucky, where 57 oxycodone pills were mailed from, claiming that the mediation was sent to her to alleviate pain from a knee complaint.

The pills were found by Japanese custom officials at Narita airport on June 11, at the bottom of a small package marked " necklaces," police and customs officials previously confirmed.

The pills were placed in the bottom of the box listed as containing a necklace, with some of the pills inside an accessory case. Police investigators said along with the concealed pills, the parcel also contained toy pendants and necklaces.

Hamp, who became global head of communications for Toyota in April, after joining the company in June 2012 from PepsiCo Inc., where she was a senior vice president, had her resignation accepted by the company less than two weeks after its president Akio Toyoda had told a press conference that Hamp had not intentionally broken Japanese law and vouching for her professional and ethical character.

During her detention it became apparent that she was, however, aware that the drug was regulated in Japan, but did not consider the drug to be illegal and had a legitimate knee complaint that warranted the strong painkiller, as was confirmed by doctors after her arrest who found she had an inflamed knee.

The painkiller oxycodone, is known to be highly addictive and is often abused for recreational reasons, therefore although the medication is not illegal in Japan with the correct doctor's prescription, it requires a medical certificate to be submitted to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for approval, before it can be sent to Japan and as Hamp and her family did not do that, the former executive fell foul of Japan's drug laws.

Hamp's saga has been a blow to Toyota who have been pushing the envelope of diversification, particularly in Japan at executive levels, with Toyota president Akio Toyoda hoping to bring in more women and non-Japanese as part of this initiative.

Toyota offered an apology Wednesday, stating that they plan to learn from this incident involving their former employee, by reinforcing their guiding principles of "honoring the language and spirit of the law."

"We also remain firmly committed to putting the right people in the right places, regardless of nationality, gender, age and other factors, as we continue to take the steps necessary to become a truly global company," the automaker said in a statement aimed at restoring faith in their current diversity drive.

Shigeru Hayakawa has taken over the top communications post, Toyota said. Hayakawa was Hamp's former senior. Endi