Ex-Osaka prosecutor tells court interrogation remarks were exaggerated, denies guilt

Daisuke Tabuchi (田渕大輔), 54, a former prosecutor in the Special Investigation Department of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, was questioned as a defendant at the Osaka District Court on 19 October. He is charged with special public official violence and cruelty. Asked about telling the man he interrogated "you are a great sinner", Nippon TV News reported that he described it as his own analogy and said he did not intend to threaten. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that he said it was exaggerated and that he could have put it differently. [ 1 , 5 ]

Nippon TV News said Tabuchi is accused of abusing verbally a subordinate of the former president of Presans Corporation (プレサンスコーポレーション), whose acquittal on an embezzlement charge is final. He has pleaded not guilty, and the issue is whether his conduct in the interrogation amounts to cruelty that causes mental distress. The Yomiuri Shimbun said the referral decision states that in December 2019 he struck a desk and said words including "don't underestimate prosecutors" to a former manager, 61, whose guilty verdict is final. That manager later gave a statement admitting the then president's involvement, it said. [ 1 , 2 , 5 ]

On defence questioning, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, Tabuchi said he believed the manager must have explained the plan to the president and that he used his own analogy to say the manager's account lacked reason. He said he struck the desk because the manager denied having agreed matters with colleagues even when shown evidence. There were other means, he said, but he thought it was necessary at the time. [ 5 ]

In cross-examination by the designated lawyers acting as prosecutors, part of the December 2019 video was played in court, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. Tabuchi said the department then believed the former president was involved and that he thought the case would advance depending on the subordinate's statement. He said no instruction on the method came from the then department head or the lead prosecutor, and he did not think he had lacked courtesy. [ 4 ]

Tabuchi apologised for the distress that repeated reports of the case had caused the subordinate and his family. The Yomiuri Shimbun quoted him as saying he could not accept being charged and had only carried out his duty as a prosecutor. The Mainichi Shimbun quoted him as saying he had carried out his duties as a prosecutor. [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]

At the eighth hearing on 20 October, according to Kyodo, he said he spoke harshly because he thought forceful words would reach the man's heart. He said he was always unsure how to address him, and that, since the referral decision, he thought it had not been good. Asked by the judge, he said he should have been more careful. [ 6 , 8 ]