The Osaka District Court on Friday rejected a petition for damages for coercive interrogations in an embezzlement case in which a former company president was later acquitted.

In an interlocutory judgment, presiding Judge Shinji Oda said that the investigations by the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office "cannot be regarded as illegal."

The former president, Shinobu Yamagishi, 62, of Osaka-based real estate company Pressance, was seeking about ¥700 million in damages from the government. He plans to appeal the ruling.