Today, Tecmo Co. Ltd. announced that Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda will resign. The Board of Directors accepted Yasuda's resignation — which was for "personal reasons". Starting September 1st, Chairman of the Board Yasuharu Kakihara will assume the position of Tecmo's president. Yasuda has been at the center of the Itagaki vs. Tecmo legal suit. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These were "special incentive" wages that Itagaki claims were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors, but the current president is claiming these "special incentive" wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board.As we posted earlier, Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'" During the court proceedings, evidence was presented, such as this secret audio tape that we broke, which contained statements by Yasuda that seemed in direct conflict with his court claim that this "special incentives" proposal was made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. The recording helps support Itagaki's claim that his special incentive bonus was approved by Tecmo's former president and the board of directors, and that the current president knows this, contradicting himself. Besides this, Yasuda was embroiled in a totally separate lawsuit filed by other Tecmo employees as well — Hiroaki Ozawa and co-plaintiff Tatsuki Tsunoda. Ozawa is the Tecmo Labor Union leader and Ninja Gaiden 2 lead engineer, while Tsunoda is the Ninja Gaiden 2 level design lead. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a "flexible hours" work scheme where overtime was not paid. Because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime. The evidence the plaintiffs submitted in their suit seems to indicate that Yoshimi Yasuda falsified contracts relating to overtime work, illegally withholding payment of wages to 300 employees over the course of the past 2 years. Despite Yasuda's direct involvement with this deception, he attempted to shift responsibility by claiming that this was the fault of the founder and former chairman of Tecmo, now deceased, stating he was told not to hold an election and just pick someone to head the Tecmo Labor Union. Sounds like Kakihara has a lot of work ahead of him starting September 1st. Official press release below:
代表取締役の異動に関するお知らせ 当社は、平成20年８月20日開催の取締役会において、下記の通り代表取締役の異動について内定いたしましたのでお知らせいたします。 記 １．異動内容 新役職名 氏 名 旧役職名 代表取締役会長兼社長 柿原 康晴 代表取締役会長 辞任 安田 善巳 代表取締役社長 （２）異動の理由 本日開催の取締役会において、安田代表取締役社長より、一身上の都合により代表取締役 社長並びに取締役を辞任したい旨の申し出があり、取締役会はこれを受理いたしました。 （３）異動予定日 平成20年９月１日 （４）新任代表取締役会長兼社長の氏名、略歴 新役職名 代表取締役会長兼社長 氏 名 柿原 康晴（かきはら やすはる） 生年月日 昭和45年12月30日（38歳） 出 身 地 千葉県 略 歴 平成元年３月 渋谷教育学園幕張高等学校卒業 平成11年３月 獨協医科大学卒業 平成11年５月 獨協医科大学附属病院第２外科 臨床研修医として勤務 平成12年10月 （財）癌研究会附属病院勤務臨床研修医として勤務 平成13年５月 獨協医科大学附属病院第２外科勤務 平成13年６月 当社監査役に就任 平成16年６月 当社取締役に就任 平成18年３月 当社取締役退任 平成18年３月 テクモウェーブ株式会社取締役に就任（現任） 平成18年10月 当社経営委員会委員長に就任 平成19年３月 当社代表取締役会長（現任） 以 上