Julie Hamp
Toyota’s poster executive for diverse hiring, Julie Hamp, has been arrested in Japan for trying to smuggle 60 Oxycodone pills into the country by mail order. Ms Hamp is an American who is the highest-ranking woman in the automaker’s history.She has denied the allegation. She told Tokyo police that she did not think that she had imported narcotics. Toyota declined to comment beyond saying it was looking into the matter, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether Hamp had a lawyer. Ms. Hamp is the Chief Communications Officer of Toyota North America and Group Vice President at Toyota Motor Corporation. She has had similar positions at PepsiCo and General Motors. The arrest cast a pall over efforts by Toyota’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, to diversify top management at the world’s largest auto maker by sales. Hamp, 55, is the first woman to hold the title of managing officer at Toyota and handles corporate communications. Oxycodone is a legal prescription painkiller in both the U.S. and Japan, but Japanese law tightly controls imports of the drug and other narcotics. It is also tightly controlled in Ontario where Oxycodone deaths multiplied in the early years of the century. Those found guilty of importing Oxycodone illegally face one to 10 years in prison. A package addressed to Hamp is said to have contained 60 tablets. It was intercepted by customs officers earlier this month. The tablets were placed at the bottom of the package, a person briefed on the case told MarketWatch.
