Tokyo Barrister: Start the law firm bankruptcy

Chapter 652 Consequences
So what if I made a mistake.

It's already a fait accompli. Do you think I'm going to ask you to start over?

Hamano's rhetorical question demonstrates the logic that those in power are always invincible.

When Miyakawa heard these words, she did not expect the other party to respond in this way. The beautiful lawyer clenched her fists, and the sense of justice in her heart made her, who was usually gentle, furious at this moment.

However, despite his inner anger, the shrewd Hamano did grasp the key point.

The ultimate goal of any judicial case is to resolve the issue.

Rather than simply judging right or wrong.

You can argue that it is legal or illegal.

But the problem is that after evaluating whether the parties' behavior complies with the law, a ruling that can solve the problem must be given.

Just like the current bidding fraud case. Yes, you can say that Shinjuku City Hall violated the law. But then what? Even if the Tokyo Metropolitan Finance Department ruled that it was illegal, what would be the point?

Are you asking for a re-tender?
The project was long over and the construction was completed.

You said the other party was transferring benefits and winning the bid illegally?

But judging from the results, there really weren't any major problems with the project provided by the other party.

You said you want those involved in the fraud to be punished?
The sampling personnel, laboratories and other links were all outsourced to Shinjuku City Hall, and it is difficult to hold specific personnel accountable.

Yes, you could say City Hall is wrong.

But the question is, what’s the point?
To those who don't know much about the law, Hamano's words seem to be specious and pure sophistry. However, the questions Hamano raised are real problems for the judges of the case. The Tokyo Metropolitan Finance Department cannot ask for everything to be re-written.

"Lawyer Hamano, what you mean is that Shinjuku City Hall does not have to bear any responsibility after making a mistake, right?" Miyagawa said this almost with gritted teeth, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"Miyagawa, lawyer." Hamano smiled. "Mistake? Responsibility? Then please tell me, what consequences did the mistake made by our city hall lead to? Was it the selection of a supplier that was qualified in all aspects? Was it the construction of high-quality modern sports facilities? Which of these 'consequences' is a bad consequence? If there is no bad consequence, then why do we need to take responsibility?"

The public lawyer's voice echoed in the conference room.

Many city hall officials could not imagine that their lawyers were so powerful.

He was able to turn an unfavorable situation around.

At this point, everyone's eyes fell on the applicant for the administrative ruling, to see if the two young lawyers could still make a rebuttal.

The atmosphere in the conference room became increasingly solemn.

Also present were President Hamanaka and other business owners who had applied for this administrative ruling.

This solemnity was not caused by the tense atmosphere of the trial.

It's the kind of almost desperate understanding of reality.

At this moment, Kitahara stood up. The relaxed expression on his face was out of tune with the solemn atmosphere in the meeting room. The young male lawyer walked forward slowly, meeting everyone's gaze.

At this moment, he was like a brave general in ancient times guarding the gate alone, leading a solitary army and resisting the surging enemy.

All I heard was Kitahara saying, "Robbers robbed other people of their money. According to your logic, the total wealth of society should not increase or decrease. I can also ask like Lawyer Hamano, where are the bad consequences! Yes, what bad consequences does robbery have? It's just that one part of the money is transferred to another part, and the total wealth remains unchanged. What bad consequences are there?!"

Kitahara's self-questioning and self-answering sounded like cannon fire on a battlefield. "Lawyer Hamano said that the quality inspection of the ecological runway was qualified, and the bid evaluation of the city hall was correct, so he said that there were no bad consequences." "It was your city hall that colluded with the winning supplier, and whether your interests were damaged was used to evaluate whether there were bad consequences. Lawyer Hamano, isn't your logic ridiculous?"

The male lawyer didn't speak very fast.

So much so that everyone in the conference room could clearly hear every word he said.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that the deliberately slowed-down speech contained a hint of sarcasm.

There seemed to be a power hidden in the words of this male lawyer.

Although they were just two short sentences, they instantly pierced through Hamano's logic of questioning.

"You want to hear about the terrible consequences, right?" Kitahara picked up a newspaper.

Everyone present was confused.

"The winning bidder for the eco-runway project was chosen thanks to Shinjuku City. As a result, they were included in the list of suppliers for Tokyo municipal engineering projects. Subsequently, the winning bidder successively undertook elevator projects for the city's three-dimensional high-rise gardens. What happened? The elevators they supplied had five consecutive stall and fall accidents within three months."

Kitahara pointed at the headline of the newspaper.

Written in bold, large letters on the page was: "Electrical Engineering Yonghe Company had five consecutive elevator accidents in March."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Below are photos of the accident.

The bloody scene was covered with mosaics.

There is also a bold title in the center of the page: "The deceased's family members angrily blocked the entrance of the company! The police arrived to maintain order!"

"Of course, no one will die from an accident on the running track," Kitahara said calmly. "Even if there are quality issues, the most that can happen is cracks and bulges, causing citizens who are exercising to fall, or at most some toxic gases to evaporate."

"Indeed, you got away with it on the ecological runway project. I will also assume that the construction acceptance of this runway is true. Then, thanks to your Shinjuku City Hall, this winning company has entered your city hall's supplier list with this project."

"What's true can't be false. What's false can't be true."

"You can fool everyone some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of your life. But you can never succeed in fooling everyone all of the time. Companies that rely on collusion between insiders and outsiders and transfer of benefits to win bids will eventually get into trouble, and it will be a big one!" Kitahara suddenly raised his voice.

"You ask what the consequences are. The consequences are right in front of you. You have deprived the companies that you have taken into fair participation in the bidding process. You have brought in companies that have benefited from the transfer of interests, and ultimately caused the death and injury of citizens in substandard elevator projects."

Every word Kitahara said was like a train hitting the eardrums of the city hall officials present.

Even Hamano was speechless for a moment.

What he thought was a perfect counterattack was shattered in just a moment.

However, the public lawyer still did not give up. Even though Kitahara responded verbally, he still did not directly answer his own question, which was what to do in the end. How to solve this problem.

Hamano knew that he couldn't let Kitahara interfere with the case judge, so he continued along the same path and fought back: "Lawyer Kitahara! It's still my core question. Do you want to be awarded the bid again? Do you want to destroy the runway and let you do the construction!!!"

"It's simple," said the young male lawyer. "We just want fairness."

“First, the companies that illegally won the bid should return their profits from this project!”

"Secondly, the Shinjuku City Hall should publicly apologize to the families of the victims and all the citizens of Shinjuku for the elevator accident that followed the introduction of this inferior company!"

(End of this chapter)