TEPCO Employees Recorded Civil Trials in Violation of Court Rules

Tokyo, May 21 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday that its employees had recorded court proceedings of some civil cases related to the company in violation of the Rules of Civil Procedure. On the same day, Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Co. also admitted to making audio recordings in the courtroom. Among other Japanese regional power utilities, similar problems have already come to light at Chubu Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. The remaining three–Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co. and Okinawa Electric Power Co.–have not confirmed such misconduct. According to TEPCO, some employees have made audio recordings since at least around 2015. Some of them knew that it was problematic. They deleted the audio data after compiling internal reports. TEPCO has not confirmed organizational involvement. On Thursday, the company issued a statement promising to take thorough measures to prevent similar misconduct. It will punish the employees involved under its internal rules. Shikoku Electric said that employees began recording court proceedings about 10 years ago but stopped it about a year ago. Chugoku Electric said that an employee made a recording in or after 2008. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]