Civil Engineering Company President and Father Arrested Over Suspected Facilitation of Illegal Employment of Four Vietnamese Workers
This article organizes publicly available information into a single account. Where it describes an arrest or an ongoing investigation, that reflects only one stage of criminal procedure and does not mean guilt has been established (the presumption of innocence applies). We will update this article as new information becomes available, including the outcome of prosecution, non-prosecution, or trial. This article is not intended to unfairly disparage any individual, group, nationality, ethnicity, or belief, and aims to provide objective, fact-based information.
Hyogo Prefectural Police arrested the president (30) of a civil engineering company in Inami and his father (55) on suspicion of violating the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act by facilitating illegal employment, for allegedly employing four Vietnamese nationals who lacked valid work authorization — their period of residence having expired, among other issues — at company facilities from around August 2025 to around June 2026. The two are believed to have hired the workers without verifying their residence status.
In questioning, the president reportedly made a statement to the effect that "anyone who wanted to work was fine." A similar case involving a construction contractor has also been reported in Inami (related coverage), pointing to a regional concentration of cases involving the facilitation of illegal employment. Current status: The suspects have been arrested; whether they will be indicted has not been disclosed as of this writing.
Under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, employers can be penalized even when they claim they "did not know" a foreign worker's residence status or period of residence had not been verified, as employers are held to a strict duty of confirmation. In cases like this one, where a parent and child are both involved in running the company, the degree of each person's involvement becomes the key factor in determining criminal responsibility.
Within the same town of Inami, another similar case of facilitating illegal employment involving a different construction contractor has also occurred (related coverage), indicating a regional concentration of such cases.