Tecmo, Itagaki Submit Contradicting Evidence, Suspicions of Falsified Documents Arise

As the legal showdown between Japanese developer Tecmo and soon-to-be former Team NINJA subsidiary head Tomonobu Itagaki commences, both sides have submitted contradicting evidence to the court, suggesting something is amiss.

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.

As evidence of this, Itagaki submitted a contract that affirmed his claims of a promised bonus. Tecmo offered the court a similar contract as well, 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 has not been addressed. However, contradictory documents in another Tecmo court case suggests that some of Tecmo's official documents contain false information.

That other suit, filed by two Tecmo employees and said to "encompass all 300 employees," claims Tecmo has avoided paying employees overtime through the illegal implementation of a flex-time agreement.

Official court documents uncovered by Kotaku and Inside-Games indicate the flex-time agreement, which itself isn't illegal, was approved by a former, unnamed leader of the Tecmo Labor Union.

These same Tecmo documents state the unnamed leader was "chosen by popular vote," while a later memo from Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda suggests that election was never held.

In other words, 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 his fellow employees.

Tecmo has yet to officially comment on these particular allegations, though it has stated that its employees will be "appropriately compensated" and asked all outlets to "handle news reports concerning the above matters with care."