JULY 1, 2003

Honda Jr is arrested

Hirotoshi Honda, the son of the late Soichiro Honda and the chief executive of Mugen, has been arrested over allegations of a massive tax evasion. The Mugen company is suspected of having failed to declare more than $25m in revenues over a three year period up to the end of 2000 and therefore evading a tax payment of around $8.5m. Honda and his auditor Norio Hirokawa have been arrested and are alleged to have cooked the books with a leasing company owned by Honda Jr. The investigators claim that the money saved was then invested in property in Tokyo.