TOKYO (AP) – A US executive who resigned from Toyota after being arrested in Japan in 2015 on suspicion of drug law violations has returned to the Japanese automaker, the company said Thursday.
Julie Hamp has been hired by Toyota Motor Corp.’s North American operations to support its CEO, Akio Toyoda, and advise the company on global management, sustainability, governance and global media relations.
She was arrested on suspicion of importing the prescription painkiller oxycodone, which is tightly controlled in Japan, after arriving in the country in 2015 to head Toyota’s public relations.
Toyota said her return was not a problem as she was never prosecuted.
“Toyota believes the incident in 2015 will not hinder her further career,” it said in response to a question from The Associated Press.
In 2015, prosecutors said Hamp had arranged with her father to have 57 oxycodone pills airmailed from the US to a hotel in Tokyo. They decided not to press charges.
Toyota officials repeatedly apologized for the arrest, but Toyoda noted how he wished he could have done more to help Hamp. He also publicly championed her as a key member of the Toyota team.
Hamp’s was the first high-profile female promotion at Japan’s top automaker. She joined the company in 2012 and oversaw marketing and communications for the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands in the US. She previously worked for PepsiCo Inc. and General Motors Co.
In her latest assignment at Toyota, Hamp will also work on the English version of Toyota’s own media, Toyota Times, according to the maker of the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
