What’s so wrong about “showing” someone your money?
On Sunday (Jul. 30) police in Hokkaido arrested a man who allegedly tried to bribe a police officer in order to get out of a traffic citation.
According to the Hokkaido Prefectural Police Department, on the morning of July 30, the suspect, a 66-year-old man named Tetsuo Miyahara, was driving a light cargo truck down a road in the Hokkaido city of Kushiro when he was stopped by a police officer in a patrol car for operating a vehicle without wearing a seat belt. However, before the officer was able to give Miyahara a citation Miyahara told the police officer “I’d like you to overlook this. Come to my house if you intend to give me a ticket” and then drove off.
The officer followed Miyahara to his residence. There, Miyahara approached the officer, saying “How much do you want? This should be enough, right?” as he pulled out 470,000 JPY (4,250 USD) from his wallet and held it out in front of the officer.
Police arrested Miyahara on charges of attempted bribery that same morning. Miyahara has denied the charges saying “I didn’t intend to hand over the money. I was just showing it to him.”
According to Yahoo News Japan, Miyahara was not facing any monetary punishment for having been caught driving without wearing a seat belt. He was only facing a point on his license.
Although it is unclear exactly why Miyahara decided to try to bribe the officer, the fact that he was driving a work truck and, as Yahoo News Japan reports, claimed to work be in the construction industry, seems to suggest that perhaps driving was an integral part of his job and because of this he was afraid that receiving a point on his license could result in him losing his job. Either that or he didn’t try to bribe the officer and just likes “showing” random people his money.
If you’d like to see a CG recreation of this story, check out the TomoNews Japan video below.
Source: TomoNews Japan, Yahoo News Japan
Image: Pixabay
