An employee of the scandal-hit used car dealership chain Bigmotor Co. has been arrested for his alleged involvement in cutting down roadside trees in front of an outlet in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo.
Toshiyuki Kamohara, 51, denied having ordered the destruction of trees during police questioning before being arrested on Tuesday, investigative sources said. He was sent to prosecutors on Wednesday.
But the police found strong evidence against the suspect through messages exchanged via the LINE messaging app with the store in Kawasaki.
According to the sources, Kamohara was the only environment improvement promotion committee member at the company's headquarters at the time and was tasked with directing environmental maintenance work at various Bigmotor outlets.
Given his past as a company board member, the store is believed to have proceeded with cutting down the trees under the assumption that it was acting on the headquarters' directives, the sources added.
Kamohara has been arrested on suspicion of damaging property by conspiring with others in cutting down the six azalea trees in October 2022. It was the first arrest related to their destruction.
The Kawasaki city government has said that the company claimed the tree felling was carried out following the environment improvement promotion committee member's instructions.
The incident adds to the scandal surrounding Bigmotor, which was found to have charged excessive repair fees by intentionally damaging cars and making fraudulent insurance claims, leading its president to resign.
