Bus driver who pocketed 1,000 yen in fares denied 12 million yen in retirement money

February, 2022 was the first time he was caught.

It sounds harsh but a thief is a thief and there has to be rules.

Where do you draw the line ?

Too bad he drove all passenger safely so he can work until his retirement, at the end they just take his hard work retirement package.

He also should aware there's dashcam all the time in many buses route in Japan, should think that before taking 1000 yen.

He earned the retirement working. That was the rule, you work, you get retirement. If you steal a candy bar do they fine you 12 million yen at the police station? A google search says the fine for shoplifting is up to 500,000 yen. Take 500,000 out and give him the rest.

He stole the money, so yes he should be punished, but his entire pension? That seems to be too harsh. Also, I am so tired of this old trope about the loss of public trust. With politicians almost weekly being accused of money issues, bribes, illegal donations, etc., how about that for loss of public trust?

Brutal INJUSTICE, one way to rip off a worker and steal him $$$ retirement by accusing him of stealing.

Crime doesn’t pay, of course, but the entire retirement allowance denied just for stealing 1000 yen? The Supreme Court ruling is too harsh. The punishment far outweighs the crime.

This is not a Punishment, this is stealing as well.

Seems extremely unfair.

Particularly given that politicians and the rich 'elite' almost always get off with suspended sentences after embezzling etc. billions of yen.

Punishment should reflect the crime. ¥12 million for ¥1,000 is not that.

Stealing In becoming the norm even retirement $$ is up for grab, the city office is becoming the thief these days, NO Surprise at all, as always never trust those in POWER.

But i do kinda feel sad for him to lose his entire retirement package and plus all those years of legal cost. But on the other hand if they allow this to slide, it would set a bad example to anyone else that thinking they can just steal from public funds and not be severely punish by it.

There is a saying: you can catch the thief in the act, but you never able to know every crime he had committed before you caught him that 1 time. Is not how much he stole this time, is about that he should not have done it in the first place.

He knew the penalties

While the refusal to pay the driver his 12 million yen severance because he stole Y1000 seems unfairly disproportionate, he has no one but himself to blame because he didn't think it through that his small but criminal act could jeopardize his retirement allowance.

Not a reason to get back at him. It is extortion.

if you are LDP thief and steal a lot of more - you just bow 15 sec and problem solved

sure not this drivers case

This has been all over the media. I think the bus company will relent and pay him his pension to avoid the terrible publicity.

However, the Kyoto District Court ruled in 2023 that the city’s decision to pay was lawful.

(editing: not even once)

From society's wealthy and well-connected and even from many among the aspiring lower classes there's little or no pity or mercy for the powerless and poor low on society's totem pole. The result is a two-tier system of "class" justice. Such is the human animal.

I wonder what happens to the ¥12,000,000 he had accumulated? Who gets that?

Was it an accident? Was it a repeat offence?

Unfortunately for him, the city’s transportation department happened to be doing a routine dashcam check and spotted him in the act of embezzling the fare.

"routine dashcam check"? really? I think they may have been tipped off and were on to him. Still 12,000,000 yen is a very strict penalty.

Stealing a stamp here and there or selling a cow without permission can add up to crimes resulting in life-altering consequences.

The thought of selling a cow without permission brightened my morning.

Meanwhile the execs of that company can steal company money by charging their suica cards every day for about 10,000 yen and record that as "travel expenses" when really they can spend it however way they want without questioning. Only when they get audited do these expenses come to light and all these execs have to do is bow and apologize, get slightly demoted or retire with generous severance pay and retirement.

This bus driver shouldn't have done what he had done, but paying a fine would've been enough of a penalty.

I don't what happened with the copy editing of this story, but for starters...

 This is the money that accrues throughout one’s career with an organization and is paid out in a lump sum when they end employment either by retirement, resignation, or even dismissal unless the employee EMPLOYER deems the reason too egregious to pay.

Feeling that was far too severe a punishment for damages roughly equivalent to the price of a super-sized combo at McDonald’s, the former driver took the city to court. However, the Kyoto District Court ruled in 2023 that the city’s decision NOT to pay was lawful.

It sets a great example and again only due to recent technology was it possible to catch this thief. Pretty easy to do an audit on this individual and find out what $UP. Seems likely he's single, likes to spend if I had to guess.

One must assume he's been stealing his entire career. Just another reason self-driving tech. will save society so many costs, besides far fewer accidents.

Taking his entire pension, thus ruining his future over such a honestly, minor offense can lead to two things:

He takes his own life as it's not worth living a life where you have to keep working until you die.

He takes a bigger interest in the dark side of society and maybe starts doing other jobs that are not exactly legal.

Weird punishment. I wonder if politicians and judges hold themselves to such high standards?

They probably receive gifts worth hundreds of thousands depending on cases, which are bribes.

12 million seems harsh, but worth mentioning that there is no way he only stole 1,000.

If this was genuinely a random dashcam spot check then the chances of a one-time offender being caught are astronomical. A repeat offender, on the other hand, is far more likely to be caught (and indeed that is the purpose of doing spot checks).

Far, far more likely that he was a repeat offender and/or there was a tip off.

In other words, Japan's authorities need to audit this guy and follow the money. But given all this cash, such an audit will be a little trickier, but Kyoto's a small place, people will talk, the truth will come out etc.

Nobody likes a thief after all, especially in Japan!

Where do you draw the line ?

In Japan the line is clear but in the USA the fellow run the country to the ground and maga still defend him.

Different country different rules, I guess.

It's a real stretch to 'conflate' political legal attacks and weaponization of Govt to do so, destroying Democracy itself with standard petty criminal matters like this Bus Driver in Kyoto.

It's ok to hate DJT, but it's not relevant here. Politics is a whole different world than 'regular life' like this article.

Wow, a bus slush fund scandal.

I think this is really disproportionate.

it kind verges on the bus company company stealing his money albeit “legally”. I could work with 100,000 thousand. Maybe 500,000 thousand, maybe even a million. But 12 million yen. If this was a “legal fine” I would hate to make a mistake. It does rather sound like a shake down by some bureaucrat. But wow! Losing your pension and then getting done for the legal fees.its enough to make someone top themselves.

Predict this story has 'legs' and we'll be finding out a LOT more about this bus driver's lifestyle over these many years that he's been a public employee. We'll soon know how much of a '$mistake' really took place...

Wouldn't bet on this individual being on the 'Up and Up'!

I think it has to be handled strictly but separately, the bonus paid for years of workload and a big penalty for stealing the money. If this case is now a template and all different issues are mixed and treated as a package, we can expect severe problems in society, especially when facing less pensions in an aging society. Hasn't just almost anyone taken one or another thing for free that usually had to be paid for, during all lifetime, for example office material from workplace like a pen or such? Really nothing, 100% honest and not the smallest thing or amount in decades? Now, honestly answered to oneself, if nearly everyone facing all the bonuses and pensions denied, what would that lead into?

He should’ve told them that he believed the bill was fake and that he needed to test that, a la Michael Douglas in Black Rain.

there is no way he only stole 1,000

Sure. But this is all we have to go on. Perhaps a 5-year inquiry/investigation could find more. Have they checked his overseas accounts, for example? Needs to be looked into.

Give it a rest. The driver was denied a pension. Let it go.

As is usually the case, the Japanese justice system sides with the big guy.

The driver should be punished for stealing the money, and I'm pretty sure that for stealing 1000 yen, it's going to be a small fine. The company is also entitled to take disciplinary action, but taking away his entire 12 million yen pension allowance is completely ridiculous and vastly disproportionate to the crime. It's also a huge stretch to say that a bus driver stealing 1000 yen is going to significantly damage the public's trust in the bus business.