home of firm's ex-chief raided

Police yesterday raided the home of the former president of Mitsubishi Motors Corp who was arrested last week on suspicion of hiding vehicle defects even after promising to come clean in an earlier cover-up scandal.

Katsuhiko Kawasoe, who resigned in disgrace four years ago when the carmaker acknowledged having hidden vehicle defects for decades, was arrested with five other former Mitsubishi Motors officials on Thursday on charges related to a cover-up of defects suspected in a fatal accident.

In 2000, a man died after the brakes on his Mitsubishi truck failed because of a suspected defect that company officials are believed to have known about as early as 1996, police say.