Yamanashi Uenohara land purchase lawsuit reversal ruling dismissed Tokyo High Court January 23 19:09

Six years ago, Uenohara-shi, Yamanashi, appealed to residents that it was illegal to purchase the land of the former mayor at a high price. I sentenced my decision to reject.

Six years ago, Uenohara City purchased about 7,000 square meters of land owned by the former mayors for more than 250 million yen for the construction of childcare facilities.

In response, a resident man complained that the mayor Hideo Eguchi had purchased the land more than 100 million yen above the reasonable valuation without taking proper procedures and was illegal, and the Kofu District Court in the first instance acknowledged the action. He sent a ruling asking the city to return the mayor with over 50 million yen.

In a ruling of the two courts on Tuesday, Judge Fumiko Shiraishi of the Tokyo High Court said, "I have heard that the mayor had told the former mayor who had been politically confronted with the expected amount of land to buy, and he would like to cooperate. There is a problem in proceeding with proper procedures. It should be said that this is contrary to the purpose of the Local Autonomy Law and the like. "

On the other hand, "the land acquisition itself does not deviate from the discretion of the mayor, and the appraisal on which the price was based is considered to be somewhat expensive, but is within the discretion of the real estate appraiser." He decided that the expenditures for land purchase were not illegal and reversed the first instance's judgment and sentenced him to dismiss the suit.