Tokyo IT Firm Head Arrested for Alleged Body Abandonment

Tokyo, April 18 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police on Friday arrested the president of Linux Japan, an information technology service provider in the Japanese capital, on suspicion of abandoning a body. The suspect, Katsuya Mizuguchi, 49, has denied the allegations against him, saying, “I didn’t do that.” Mizuguchi allegedly removed the body of a man from the company’s office in the Akasaka district in Tokyo’s Minato Ward and abandoned it around Oct. 5-6 last year, the Metropolitan Police Department said. According to the police and other sources, the body has not been found while a male executive of Linux Japan in his 50s has been missing since September last year. The MPD set up an investigation headquarters at its Azabu police station in the ward with the possibility of murder in mind, suspecting that the body that was allegedly abandoned by Mizuguchi, a resident of Minato Ward, might be that of the missing executive. There is information that Mizuguchi and the executive had a problem, and the police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the official’s disappearance and working to find the place of the suspected body abandonment. Investigative sources said that Mizuguchi rented a car in Koto Ward in Tokyo around the time of the suspected body abandonment and that he may have transported the body in the car. On Oct. 10 last year, a female acquaintance of the Linux Japan executive consulted the Azabu police station, reporting that she was unable to contact the man. Officers from the police station checked a security camera installed near the executive’s condominium in the Roppongi district in Minato Ward and found that he went out by bicycle in light clothes on Sept. 28. There was no trace of his condominium unit being searched by someone, and a large amount of cash was left there, the investigative sources said, adding that there were no clear circumstances suggesting that a crime had happened. The executive’s smartphone was not found in his home, the sources said. The MPD launched a full-scale investigation into the case after the woman consulted the police again in February this year. The police came to suspect that the executive fell victim to a crime as he was found to have scheduled events for October and later, and apparently had no reasons to disappear or commit suicide. The police found bloodstains of the executive in some places of the Linux Japan office in Akasaka. The executive’s smartphone was not found through a search of Mizuguchi’s home and other locations related to the suspect. As the executive’s body was not discovered despite the bloodstains, however, the police questioned Mizuguchi several times on a voluntary basis, suspecting that he removed the body from the office. But Mizuguchi denied his involvement, the sources said. Only Mizuguchi and the executive used the Linux Japan office normally. The company has 30 to 40 employees, and most of them directly commute to their places of assignment. Only the suspect and the missing executive had the key of the office. According to Linux Japan’s website and other sources, Mizuguchi began to work for an IT company after graduating from university. He established Linux Japan in November 2009 and became its president. The firm develops network servers and related systems, hosts seminars and dispatches its engineers to client companies. Mizuguchi has written nearly 10 books, including one for people aiming to become system engineers. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]