TOKYO, July 1 (UPI) -- Julie Hamp, Toyota Motor Corp. managing officer, resigned after her arrest in Japan on drug importing charges, the company said Wednesday.
Hamp, an American and the most senior female executive at the world's largest-selling car company, resigned Tuesday. She has been in custody since June 18, when she was arrested on suspicion of importing oxycodone, a painkiller legal in the United States with a prescription but categorized as a narcotic by Japan.
Prosecutors have until July 8 to decide whether to indict her for violating Japan's Narcotics Control Act.
Hamp told police she had no intention of importing narcotics, Japanese media reported, although police said she used an international parcel service to import oxycodone.
Hamp formerly was employed as a General Motors and PepsiCo executive before she moved to Toyota in 2012. Her elevation within Toyota's top executive ranks was part of an attempt to globalize the company.
"The appointment of Ms. Hamp as a managing director was the first experience for Toyota to have a non-Japanese executive based in Japan, and it was a big decision," a Toyota statement said Wednesday.
After her arrest, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda called Hamp an "indispensable" member of the company, said he regretted not doing more to help her relocation to Japan and added, "Through the investigation, I believe that we will learn she had no intent to violate the law."
