Just a week ago, Toyota’s new global communications officer, Julie Hamp, who has also previously worked for Toyota’s U.S. operations, was arrested on suspicion of importing a drug called oxycodone in Japan. And now a Japanese newspaper, Asahi reports that the police have conducted a raid at the Toyota’s headquarters in Tokyo city.
The oxycodone is a pain killer drug which is legal in the United States but has been banned in Japan. It was found in a package which Hamp mailed to herself when moving to Japan. According to BBC, Julie Hamp has revealed that she takes the drug for knee pain.
It is unclear at this stage, why the police are raiding the company’s headquarters. However, the head of Toyota Corp, Akio Toyoda seems confident that Hamp will prove innocent once the investigations are done.
Julie Hamp is the highest ranking official of Toyota and has also worked for several other multinational companies in past.