Rental apartment operator Leopalace21 Corp. said Monday that its founder and former president issued the directive to change materials used in the walls of its apartments before they were built, contributing to defective construction work nationwide that later meant over 14,000 residents had to temporarily move out.
With no division to monitor overall construction operations, the company failed to detect the order by the former president, Yusuke Miyama, to change materials from those initially planned in the designs, the interim report of its investigation said.
Leopalace21 launched a probe into possible defects in its nearly 40,000 apartments nationwide after 38 defects were found last May in apartments built between 1996 and 2009.