A former executive of a Japanese firm who was wrongly accused of illegal exports has filed a complaint with Tokyo police. He says a record of his interrogation was deliberately destroyed.

Three executives including the president of the Yokohama-based firm, Ohkawara Kakohki, were arrested and indicted in 2020. The firm makes machinery to produce chemicals.

The charges were illegally exporting goods that can be used military purposes to China and other destinations. The indictment was later revoked and the process of criminal indemnity was taken against three people.

On Monday, one of executives, Shimada Junji, filed a criminal complaint with his lawyer at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department that accuses police of intentionally scrapping of an official document and creating a false one. They said the complaint was accepted.

Shimada said he hopes the Tokyo police will verify what happened within their organization. He also said he wants them to be fully aware of the power of public authority they have.

The Tokyo government denies the investigation was illegal, claiming that the police did not trick the former executive and the report describes what actually happened.

The president of the firm and others earlier filed a civil lawsuit against the central and Tokyo Metropolitan governments.

Last December, the Tokyo District Court ordered the central and Tokyo governments to pay more than 162 million yen, or about 1.1 million dollars, in damages, acknowledging that the prosecutor and the metropolitan police carried out illegal investigations.

Both have appealed to the upper court.

It was alleged in the suit that when Shimada asked an investigator to revise an interrogation record made after his arrest, the investigator pretended to do so and got him to sign it.

The record was later scrapped, and the investigator made a report that said it was shredded by mistake.