Attorney Osamu Nakayama

On the 24th, Abu Town, Yamaguchi Prefecture, held a press conference regarding the issue of 46.3 million yen mistakenly transferred to a 24-year-old man.

[Video] Arrested 24-year-old man: "He has an incredible obsession with money"

In connection with the incident, unemployed suspect Sho Taguchi (24 years old) was arrested on suspicion of computer fraud for allegedly using part of the 46.3 million yen in mistakenly transferred benefits.

At the press conference, Abu Town announced that about 43 million yen was transferred to the town's account by three payment processing companies that Taguchi used for online casinos. The town had previously requested the payment processing companies to return the money through its lawyers.

At the press conference, Mayor Hanada apologized, saying, "We deeply apologize to the townspeople and many others for the inconvenience caused by this series of incidents." He said, "We will review our systems and checking system and take measures to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future."

At the press conference, Nakayama Osami, the lawyer in charge of the case, mentioned that Taguchi lives in a vacant house bank property and does not own his family home, and explained the process of collecting the benefits, saying, "We are doing so based on the National Tax Collection Act," and that "the town had the right to collect."

Nakayama then responded to some reports that said, "Aren't the lawyer's fees too high?" by saying, "As a lawyer, I would like to say one thing. I forget which newspaper it was on the front page, but there was a comment that said, 'Aren't the lawyer's fees too high?' Any lawyer who claims 10 million yen in a lawsuit for tort such as a traffic accident lawsuit will add 1 million yen in lawyer's fees to the damages. Even if the judgment is reduced to 3 million yen instead of 10 million yen, the lawyer's fees will be added to 300,000 yen, which is 10% of the amount of damages awarded by the court, and the judgment will be recognized."

"The 4.63 million yen (costs) that were added is not the amount in the specific commission contract between me and the town," he said.

(From "ABEMA NEWS")