Jailed Like Ghosn, a CEO Took On Japan's Justice System
TOKYO—After 79 days in jail, it was pain from sitting too long that finally made Masamichi Sakai confess to a crime he says he didn’t commit. The 63-year-old owner of a construction company, under wardens’ orders, couldn’t stand or lie down in his cell. Pressure sores on his skin burned, he missed his family—which was barred from visiting him—and his own lawyer was telling him to admit everything. Mr. Sakai had held his ground during daily interrogations, he said, maintaining he wasn’t guilty of rigging bids on an $890,000 city contract for a retaining wall. But when his trial finally started in September 2018, he pleaded guilty so he could go home, at least until the trial was over. The court scheduled a second session to formally declare his guilt. Japan’s prosecutors were set to add another win to their record of convicting more than 99% of defendants charged with crimes.
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The case of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn has spotlighted Japan’s justice system, which critics describe as a kind of “hostage justice” in which authorities lock up suspects for lengthy periods, interrogate them without lawyers present and urge them to confess in exchange for temporary freedom and a lighter sentence. Mr. Ghosn, who escaped Japan at the end of December, said he was punished for denying charges of financial crimes and fled injustice.
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Since 1894, the Sakai family has run a small construction business in Ome, a city at the far western edge of the Tokyo metropolis. Mr. Sakai joined out of high school, and after taking over the business from his father, he said he was proud to be chosen as chairman of a local construction-industry group. When the city put out the retaining wall project for bid in 2017, Mr. Sakai said, he and other contractors realized it would be a money loser because of a tricky grade on the site. But in his chairman’s role, Mr. Sakai said he also felt a responsibility because the wall was needed for a new road. He said he called around to some fellow contractors and confirmed none wanted the job. He put in a bid just below the maximum amount the city said it was willing to pay, won the project and had his workers build the wall.
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The arrest impressed on the Sakais the power of authorities to create a media uproar. The amount at stake was minuscule in a metropolis with a nearly $70 billion budget. Among CEOs in Japan, Mr. Sakai was as obscure as Carlos Ghosn was famous. Yet the arrest was on national television all day, recalled Mrs. Sakai, as media discussed the possibility that the case was the tip of the iceberg. A national newspaper featured Mr. Sakai in its series, “The Core of Shocking Crimes,” relaying the official line that Mr. Sakai wanted the wall contract and called in favors to get it.
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Most defendants in Japan don’t fight. Mr. Sakai was the exception—and his case had an exceptional outcome. In September, he overcame overwhelming odds and was found not guilty. As Mrs. Sakai recalls it, the chief judge, who had earlier flashed irritation at having to conduct a full trial, said a Japanese phrase signifying, “Sorry for the long trouble.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/jailed-like-ghosn-a-ceo-took-on-japans-justice-system-11580380203 (subscription)
