Tecmo, Itagaki Submit Contradicting Evidence, Suggests Falsified Documents
Posted on 20 June 2008 by Erik
As the legal showdown commences between Japanese developer Tecmo and soon-to-be former Team NINJA head Tomonobu Itagaki, both sides have submitted contradicting evidence to the court, suggesting something is awry, or more to the point: someone is lying.
In the lawsuit, Itagaki states he was promised, but never received, a completion bonus for his work on Xbox 360 near-launch title Dead or Alive 4.
Itagaki submitted a contract that affirmed his claims of a promised bonus as evidence to the claim. Tecmo offered the court a contract similar to Itagaki’s, but according to Kotaku and IT Media, Tecmo’s version of the contract was missing the bonus clause.
At present, the blatant contradiction between the two pieces of evidences hasn’t been addressed. However, contradictory documents in another Tecmo court case suggests that some of Tecmo’s official documents contain falsified information.
That other suit, filed by two Tecmo employees and said to represent all 300 employees, claims Tecmo has avoided paying employees overtime by illegally implementing a flex-time agreement.
Official court documents dug up by Kotaku and Inside-Games indicate the flex-time agreement, which itself isn’t illegal, was approved by a former, unidentified leader of the Tecmo Labor Union.
These same Tecmo documents state the leader was “chosen by popular vote,” while a later memo from Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda suggests that election never actually happened.
If that was the case, it would appear the flex-time agreement seems to have been implemented under false pretenses, as it appears the former union leader was appointed, not elected, to his position and did not act on behalf of, nor represent, his fellow employees.
Tecmo, who has already issued a gag order for Itagaki, has yet to officially comment on these particular allegations, though it has stated that its employees will be “appropriately compensated” and to “handle news reports concerning the above matters with care.”
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