Transport ministry to penalize used car dealer Bigmotor over fraud

Japan’s transport ministry is about to impose administrative penalties on main used automotive supplier community Bigmotor Co. over allegations it engaged in institutionalized fraud by deliberately damaging autos to inflate restore charges, ministry sources stated Thursday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism plans to take punitive motion at 34 Bigmotor shops, with 12 probably topic to the harshest punishment of getting their authority to conduct security inspections revoked, they stated.

The ministry intends to make public the executive penalties it’ll impose on Friday and maintain a listening to with Bigmotor earlier than finalizing the punishments, the sources stated.

Primarily based on the street transport automobile regulation, the ministry in July performed on-site inspections on the 34 areas throughout 24 prefectures after an investigative report compiled by an unbiased panel of legal professionals discovered main fraudulent acts on the firm.

File picture taken in July 2023 exhibits a Bigmotor Co. outlet in Saitama, close to Tokyo. (Kyodo) 

The panel discovered cases the place workers broken automobile our bodies with screwdrivers and golf balls or falsely claimed to have performed paint work.

The 34 areas underneath inspection by the ministry had been all deemed to have engaged in questionable conduct within the report.

The ministry has instructed Bigmotor to conduct inspections in any respect 135 of its areas, together with the 34 deemed to have engaged in fraudulent exercise, for every other circumstances of illegality. It stated it acquired the report from Bigmotor and is scrutinizing its content material.

The street transport automobile regulation prohibits firms from charging for repairs not requested by clients or not carried out.

Individually, the Monetary Providers Company has begun searches at places of work of Bigmotor and casualty insurer Sompo Japan Insurance coverage Inc. to scrutinize ties between the businesses after the supplier was discovered to have charged extreme restore charges and lodged fraudulent insurance coverage claims.

The monetary watchdog is contemplating imposing penalties on the 2 firms, sources near the matter stated.

In one other blow to Bigmotor, police are additionally investigating the corporate on suspicion of property destruction after roadside bushes close to its dealership shops had been discovered to have withered unnaturally, in line with investigative sources.

The search got here amid hypothesis that the scandal-hit firm was deliberately damaging bushes close to its shops in order that the automobiles on show had been extra seen to passers-by.

Associated protection:

Monetary watchdog searches Bigmotor, Sompo Japan over fraud case

Police search Bigmotor headquarters amid scandal over withered bushes

Sompo Japan president to resign over Bigmotor insurance coverage fraud scandal