Mitutoyo Corp. falsified the name of the Iranian recipient of a high-tech measuring machine in 1997 when it applied for an export permit from the Japanese government, according to investigative sources.

Mitutoyo, which makes precision measuring devices, entered a fictitious corporate name and not that of Pars Switch Co., the real recipient, in seeking the permit from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the predecessor of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the sources said.

The equipment was exported that year via Seian, a trading house based in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, to Pars Switch, which was on a MITI watch list of foreign corporations suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.