Sahashi Avoids Further Indictment

Prosecutors will not indict Sahashi for non-payment of salaries for last October and September.

The Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office announced Tuesday it will not indict the former president of Nova Corp. for failing to pay the salaries of non-Japanese teachers and Japanese personnel.

Nozomu Sahashi, 56, is already under indictment for embezzling ¥320 million from reserve funds for corporate workers at the failed foreign-language school chain.

Prosecutors said they couldn't determine whether Sahashi's failure to pay ¥105 million in salary to 400 workers for September and October was deliberate or the result of the company's poor financial state. Sahashi had spent ¥2 billion of his personal wealth in a failed attempt to save Nova, which went bankrupt in October.

Sent to prosecutors in June, the case alleged violation of the labor standards law for failure to pay salaries.

Looks like Sahashi has dodged a bullet here. The fact that he poured his own money into the company as it was collapsing apparently establishes enough doubt any that he had any intent of not paying his employees. It's interesting to note that even after sinking 2 billion yen into the company, employees still didn't get paid and the company still went under.

I am having second thoughts on just how long he may spend in jail. I initially assumed the embezzlement of funds, the non-payment of wages, plus the murky stock deals he arranged in a desperate bid to raise money would land him in jail for quite some time. At the moment, he is being charged with embezzlement. If this is all he faces, he may get off pretty easy in light of the fact that he ran one of the largest swindles in Japan and drove the biggest English conversation school into the ground. Who knows? He may still face further charges.