Asahi Kasei: former employee passed trade secrets to a Chinese company

On September 17 Aichi police arrested a former Asahi Kasei employee on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act by taking confidential information on its latent curing agents while employed and passing it to Shandong Shengquan New Materials of China after leaving. On October 7 he was arrested again on suspicion of taking quality control data on Pimel, a photosensitive insulating material for semiconductors, on a hard disk in November 2018 and emailing it outside the company in September 2024. Asahi Kasei said no technical documents from business partners and no personal data were included. It is tightening control of confidential information and of employees about to leave, and plans a civil suit against the former employee and Shandong Shengquan to stop use of the information. On 27 October the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office indicted the former employee under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.