An investor in the now-defunct Snow Brand Foods Co., which was at the center of a beef mislabeling fraud last year, filed a 30 billion yen restitution suit Monday against 13 former executives, accusing them of ruining the company through mismanagement.
The suit, filed with the Tokyo District Court by a man who holds 1,000 Snow Brand Foods shares, claims that decisions made by the executives led to the firm's downfall.
The plaintiff is demanding that these executives, including Shozo Yoshida, former president of Snow Brand Foods, pay the company 30 billion yen.
"The company had to be dissolved and there is no doubt the amount of damages it owes are more than its earnings of the last three years," the plaintiff said in the lawsuit.
Snow Brand Foods falsely labeled 30 tons of imported beef as domestic meat in fall 2001, seeking to benefit from a government buyback program introduced after the discovery of mad cow disease in domestic cattle.
Some of the executives were arrested and convicted of fraud after the scam came to light in January 2002.
Snow Brand Foods, a subsidiary of Snow Brand Milk Products Co., was dissolved April 30 and is now undergoing liquidation procedures.