I was "sold" by the Special Investigation Department-The truth of the judicial transaction-April 14, 18:51

"I don't know why he sold me suddenly."

I told my interview that a former charismatic president of an apparel company in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

He was arrested by the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office and sentenced to imprisonment last month for embezzlement.

It is the person who was caught by the special investigation department in "judicial transaction" next to former chairman of Nissan Motor Ghosn.

"Judiciary transaction" was the first institutionalization of subordinates "selling" their bosses in order to uncover the crimes of the upper management of the organization.

The parties talked about the actual situation in an interview with NHK.

(Social Affairs Department reporter Kanami Hashimoto)

Why you are the target

Defendant Daisuke Koda, former president of GLAD HAND, an apparel company in Shibuya Ward.

Last month, he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for embezzlement of more than 33 million yen in the Tokyo District Court.

He was released on bail and appealed the decision before responding to the interview.

"GLAD HAND" has annual sales of more than 600 million yen.

American casual design has gained popularity, especially among men, and former president Koda is known to everyone in the apparel industry as a charismatic president.

The house and company were searched by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office in November.

He said he was completely unaware that the insider investigation was underway.

Former President Koda

"The search started suddenly around 9 am. My wife opened the door and said,'A stranger came in.' I was in the living room and tried to go to the front door. The officials came to the living room and said, "I'm searching for a house." I don't remember exactly what was said. "

The suspicion of the search was that a part of the company's sales was pulled out and stored in cash and then dressed.

On that day, after witnessing the search, he was asked to accompany him to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, and the prosecutor of the Special Investigation Department said he was rigorously pursued to admit the charges of embezzlement.

Although he was able to return home at night, the prosecutor looked up to the school where his son, an elementary school student, wanted to take the junior high school exam, and recalled that he was "feared."

Former President Koda

"I was confused that I would be arrested and couldn't go home if I got caught here. I could leave any interrogation, but I didn't have that knowledge at the time."

The search on that day was reported on television and in newspapers, saying that "one of the employees responded to a'judicial transaction'with the Special Investigation Department."

This is the third case in which "judicial transaction" has been applied, following the case of former chairman Nissan Ghosn.

The questioning continued from the next day onward, deepening the conviction that the employee who responded to the judicial transaction was "A", a subordinate who had been with the company for more than 20 years.

Former President Koda

"I had a relationship with the whole family, and my child was so fond of calling A by the name below. I don't know why A suddenly sold me at that timing. Really the special prosecutor's office? In front of me Is Ghosn, the former president of the Japanese prosecutor's office? The top special investigation department of the Japanese prosecution cannot move with a single word from A.

What is "judicial transaction"?

"Judiciary transaction" was introduced in June 2018 in the wake of the false acquittal case in which Atsuko Muraki, the director of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, was acquitted.

In Mr. Muraki's case, the prosecution's method of forcibly imposing the scenario drawn on the suspect was strongly criticized, and the suspects arrested by the Special Investigation Department were obliged to record the interrogation in principle.

Along with this, a new "judicial transaction" was introduced as a means for investigative authorities to collect evidence without excessively relying on interrogation.

If the suspect cooperates with the investigation by providing information on the accomplice and agrees with the prosecution, the prosecution will be postponed or the sentence will be lightened in return.

It has been widely used overseas, such as in the United States, as an investigative method to clarify the involvement of upper management in corporate crimes and organized crimes, but it has not been recognized in Japan.

For the first time in Japan, it was institutionalized for subordinates to "sell" their boss's injustice to the prosecution in order to avoid their own criminal charges.

This case is a "touchstone"

So far, there have been three cases in which "judicial transactions" have been applied.

All are handled by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

The first case was three years ago when former directors of a major power generation equipment manufacturer "Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems" were accused of bribing a local government employee for about 39 million yen over a power plant construction business in Thailand. ..

The second is a case in which former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn was caught on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, both of which are large-scale cases involving large corporations and foreign governments.

However, the third case in which former president Koda was indicted was the embezzlement of a small apparel company.

Why did the Special Investigation Department target this case?

A prosecution executive revealed the inside story.

Prosecution executive

"The first case was criticized because the company sold its employees because it traded with the company as a corporation. The Nissan case has a high degree of attention, but it has a special content and versatility. It was low. The third case was brought in at the timing when the employee thought that the orthodox case of selling the top was good. While proceeding with the investigation, we will operate the "judicial transaction" effectively and stably. I thought it would be a test stone for

Why did subordinates "deal" with the Special Investigation Department?

Two weeks after the search, the Special Investigation Department arrested two former presidents, Koda and a former store manager, on suspicion of embezzlement.

The two were subsequently arrested twice, and the total indictment amounted to more than 33 million yen.

The first trial was held in October last year, 11 months after the search.

In the opening statement, the prosecution instructed the former store managers to take out a part of the store's sales together with the slip, store it in a safe in a room of the office that was also used as a bedroom, and put on clothes. Insisted.

A search of the office also revealed that a total of 200 million yen in cash was found in safes, including the former president's own funds.

The cash "carryer" is Mr. A, an employee who made a judicial transaction with the prosecution.

Approximately one and a half months before the search, Mr. A reported fraud to the Special Investigation Department himself in October, and was instructed by the former president to carry cash. He had submitted evidence such as a copy of the note.

If the case was discovered without plea bargaining, Mr. A himself could be arrested and prosecuted as an accomplice.

After that, Mr. A appeared as a witness and explained that he was pulling out sales in the same way at the previous company at the direction of the former president, and he was dissatisfied with the fact that he was told that his salary was low and that he was a chore of his family. Said he was.

On that basis, he testified as follows regarding the motive for reporting the injustice of his boss.

Mr. A

"I was worried enough to make a suicide note. It's difficult to say in one word, but I regret my involvement."

According to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. A was mentally cornered by repeatedly fraudulently taking part in the instructions of the former president.

Counterargument on the part of the former president

On the other hand, former president Koda generally admitted the facts, disputed the legal interpretation, and insisted that he was not guilty of the indictment.

The purpose of extracting a part of the sales is to suppress the apparent growth of sales and maintain moderate growth, and to prepare for future deterioration of business performance. There is no private diversion and no intention of embezzlement.

The defense also claimed that Mr. A's statement in response to the judicial transaction was unreliable.

In fact, after reporting the former president's fraud to the prosecution, Mr. A was pointed out by the prosecutor that there was an unnatural deposit in his account.

In the wake of this, it became clear that Mr. A had embezzled about 2.2 million yen from the company alone, apart from the content of the indictment of the former president.

As a result, the agreement between the prosecution and Mr. A on the judicial transaction included that in return for the cooperation in the investigation, Mr. A would not be prosecuted not only as an accomplice to former president Koda but also for embezzlement alone.

For this reason, the defense alleged that Mr. A had an incentive to give false testimony because he was exempt from liability.

What is the court's decision?

Conflicting claims of both sides.

On the 22nd of last month, the Tokyo District Court sentenced former president Koda to three years and six months in prison.

Regarding Mr. A's statement in response to the judicial transaction, the presiding judge stated that "it is considered necessary to take a fairly cautious stance when judging credibility, and we will not use it as a basis for judging issues as much as possible."

On top of that, "The credibility of objective evidence such as the notebook of the former store manager is high. The extracted sales are stored sloppyly in a form that is indistinguishable from own funds, and used for private purposes such as remittance to relatives and loans to acquaintances. I rejected the defense's claim.

Regarding the reason for the sentencing, he said, "I judged that the prison sentence was appropriate in light of the maliciousness and status as a mastermind."

Former President Koda has appealed the decision to the Tokyo High Court.

"Judiciary transaction"

There is also a view that "touchstone" is whether "judicial transactions" will be widely established in Japan.

Through interviews with multiple people involved in the case, we have come to see the issues of the system that cannot be understood by interviews in court.

One of them is the difficulty of cooperating with the investigation so that the office workers do not know the surroundings.

In order to be interviewed by the prosecution, if you get out of the office without your boss's permission during working hours, you will violate the work rules and it is a high hurdle to take out data such as company personal computers.

Above all, there is a risk that you will be dismissed or disciplined.

Mr. A, who reported the fraud, also confided to the actual owner who is the representative director of the apparel company together with former president Koda.

The owner knew that Mr. A was cooperating with the investigation.

In the Nissan case, the employees who responded to the judicial transaction regarding the fraud of former chairman Ghosn were backed up by the management at that time.

"It will be difficult to conduct a judicial transaction in Japan unless the company protects and cooperates with employees who accuse fraud," said one of the people involved in the interview.

Meanwhile, the former president's lawyer points out the risk that the "judicial transaction," which should have been introduced in the wake of false accusations, will lead to new false accusations.

Attorney Sakurai

"The prosecution will take the time to discuss with the employees who responded to the judicial transaction before embarking on the investigation to consolidate the story. The prosecution will follow this story and make it convenient for the people around them. Make good statements and testimony. Therefore, even if the employee's statement itself is not used as evidence, the statements of the people around you may find false facts. "Plea bargaining" is for the prosecution. I don't think it's like a drug and shouldn't be used easily. "

Regarding judicial transactions, some prosecutors say, "It is necessary to provide not only statements but also objective evidence to support them, and negotiations take time, so it is a high hurdle to actually use them."

Regarding the operation of the system in the future, Takahiro Saito, the detective director of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, commented to NHK that "we will carefully examine the credibility of the evidence and accumulate operational results to establish the system."

I still want to believe

How does former president Koda perceive that his trusted subordinates have accepted the judicial transaction?

Former President Koda

"I didn't feel any sign when I looked back at the email exchange with Mr. A. Why didn't you tell me directly? Did you have any circumstances that you couldn't say? It feels like "I'm being told." Even in the situation where I was sentenced to prison, I still believe in them. "

Establish or "judicial transaction"

"Judiciary transaction" was introduced because it is expected to be effective in both prevention of false accusations and elucidation of the truth of the case.

The Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office has stated that when introducing the system, it will only target cases where the public understands that the disposition of suspects should be lightened.

Will the "judicial transaction" that has been widely used overseas, such as in the United States, take root in a way that the people can understand?

It will take a little longer to get the answer.

I would like to continue interviewing.

Social section reporter

Hashimoto KeiNami

2010. He joined

interviewed all of the cases, such as Nissan Ghosn former chairman of the incident "plea bargain" has been applied