cuchulainn
March 29, 2003, 09:25 AM
And from the Gun Control Breeds Corruption department...
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030328wo23.htmCourt rules against Tokyo over fake MPD receipt
Yomiuri Shimbun
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and ruled that the Tokyo metropolitan government was liable for damages in relation to an incident in which the Metropolitan Police Department produced a fictitious receipt using the names of the two plaintiffs in the case.
The high court ordered the metropolitan government to pay 240,000 yen in damages to the men, who had demanded the local government pay 2.4 million yen in compensation in March 2000.
During the trial, presiding Judge Hiromu Emi said the MPD had violated the human rights of the plaintiffs when it used their names to produce a fictitious receipt.
An illustrated weekly magazine uncovered the incident in April 1999 in which the MPD's firearm control section was suspected of raising off-the-book funds by falsifying receipts and statements of account.
The receipt said the plaintiffs had received between 20,000 yen and 30,000 yen each as rewards for providing information useful for the section's investigations.
However, a lawyer with the ombudsman's office confirmed with the men that they had not received the money.
The men then filed a lawsuit in May 1999, complaining they suffered from mental distress as the result of the MPD's using their names.
In the first trial in March 2000, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the MPD had used their names without permission but dismissed claims that the MPD officers falsified the receipt and dismissed the plaintiffs' claim.
The high court, however, reversed the district court's decision, ruling that it was reasonable to conclude the police officers in the division falsified the receipt.
The court's decision stated that it was more logical to conclude that the MPD issued the receipt not to substantiate its payment but to make fictitious expenses look genuine.
The court rejected the MPD's explanation that it obtained information from persons with the same names and paid them the reward.
"The ruling was groundbreaking as the court ruled that the MPD's archives were fabricated," a spokesman for the plaintiffs said at a press conference after the ruling was announced.
Meanwhile, Michio Hasegawa, head of the MPD's personnel and training bureau's litigation section, said: "It was regrettable that our assertion was not accepted. We will have a talk with other agencies concerned with the case to prepare an appeal."
Copyright 2003 The Yomiuri Shimbun
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030328wo23.htmCourt rules against Tokyo over fake MPD receipt
Yomiuri Shimbun
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and ruled that the Tokyo metropolitan government was liable for damages in relation to an incident in which the Metropolitan Police Department produced a fictitious receipt using the names of the two plaintiffs in the case.
The high court ordered the metropolitan government to pay 240,000 yen in damages to the men, who had demanded the local government pay 2.4 million yen in compensation in March 2000.
During the trial, presiding Judge Hiromu Emi said the MPD had violated the human rights of the plaintiffs when it used their names to produce a fictitious receipt.
An illustrated weekly magazine uncovered the incident in April 1999 in which the MPD's firearm control section was suspected of raising off-the-book funds by falsifying receipts and statements of account.
The receipt said the plaintiffs had received between 20,000 yen and 30,000 yen each as rewards for providing information useful for the section's investigations.
However, a lawyer with the ombudsman's office confirmed with the men that they had not received the money.
The men then filed a lawsuit in May 1999, complaining they suffered from mental distress as the result of the MPD's using their names.
In the first trial in March 2000, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the MPD had used their names without permission but dismissed claims that the MPD officers falsified the receipt and dismissed the plaintiffs' claim.
The high court, however, reversed the district court's decision, ruling that it was reasonable to conclude the police officers in the division falsified the receipt.
The court's decision stated that it was more logical to conclude that the MPD issued the receipt not to substantiate its payment but to make fictitious expenses look genuine.
The court rejected the MPD's explanation that it obtained information from persons with the same names and paid them the reward.
"The ruling was groundbreaking as the court ruled that the MPD's archives were fabricated," a spokesman for the plaintiffs said at a press conference after the ruling was announced.
Meanwhile, Michio Hasegawa, head of the MPD's personnel and training bureau's litigation section, said: "It was regrettable that our assertion was not accepted. We will have a talk with other agencies concerned with the case to prepare an appeal."
Copyright 2003 The Yomiuri Shimbun