Kenichi was startled to see Mr sato in the front seat. "Uncle. Thank you for coming" He greeted him politely
Mr Sato smiled "How are you doing ? My wife is very worry about you. She asked me to come. Your wife, is she at home ?"
"She is. My step mother and eldest sister are with her. This is my father" Kenichi introduced Andrew. They met before but he was not sure if they still remembered each other.
Andrew and Mr Sato shook hand.
"Thank you so much for helping my son" Andrew expressed his gratitude. He could not thank the man enough.
"I did nothing"
"No. For me and my family, you did a lot. Thanks to you, the famous lawyer is willing to defend my son"
Mr Sato was speechless.
Kenichi then introduced Jun's father to his father. Three of them had a light chat when Sean and Jasmine came.
The first time, Sean and Jasmine did when they saw Mr Sato was to thank him sincerely. When Nick joined them, he also thanked Mr Sato on behalf of their parents.
Mrs Sato was very awkward "why do you all thank me ? I did nothing. We're one big family, helping each other is a must"
"We stil have to thank you" Andrew said.
The conversation ended there, since judge came trial began. The court room was nearly full. This case attacked pulic attention. Bot only journalists, member of publics were eager to come.
Nick and Andrew sat next to each other on the first Row on the left side. Mr Sato and Mr Matsunaga, Jun's father were behind them. Jun's uncle who was an active police officer were with his colleagues two rows behind. While they were on the left side, Grandma Yamaguchi was on the right side. Mrs Matsunaga was next to him.
On the first section, the prosecutors called their withnesses to speak. Five witnesses were presented. All of them basicly sounded the same thing, Kenichi was the planning director who proved the project. They pinned the blame on him.
Jasmine and Andrew could not hide their anger. Their voice were tremble when they translated to Nick and Sean. Lawyer Noda and his assistant were amazed with the witnesses lie.
The one who knew the truth were disgusted with the lie. However Kenichi, Nick and Sean looked as cool and composed as usual. They hid their emotions perfectly behind their calmness
Kenichi was not saint, he was beyond angry. He clenched his hand to hold him self to punch the witnesses. The only thing he could do to reduce his anger was thinking about his wife. Imagining how sweet her smile was and how soft her voice when she called him 'Darling' waa enough to keep his face calm and cool.
Sean blood was boiling. He wished he could bring them down with his own hand. However, it was not his trial. He had no authority to defend his brother in person. He had to rely on Lawyer Noda.
Nick was a the eldest child in the family. He was very protective to his siblings, especially his sisters. He could see that This people targeted his brother in law. If they succeed, his sister would be implicated as well.
He roughly understood that Kenichi's uncle was behind this. He disliked the man. No, he not only dislike, he hated that man. At this moment, he was thinking to ask his father in law to remove that man from the company as revenge.
The section were smooth. Lawyer Noda did not raise any question nor raised any objections. For him, the more the witnesses told untruth, the hardess slap he could return.
"Mr Kenichi Anderson, Do you admit your wrong doing ?" The judge asked after the the last witness stepped down from the witness seat and was back to his seat before.
Kenichi smiled. "I deny all the accusations againts me"
Lawyer Noda stood up. He calmly walked to the front "Your honour, My client is innocently. All of their statements are untruth"
He took one document from his other hand and showes it to the audience "My client resigned from his position weeks before the the project was proved. He did it during meeting, not only managements, the shareholders were also presented. This is the minutes of meeting. This is also his resignation later that he handed out to the human resource department on that very day"
He then walked to the judges table to show them the documents "In that letter, it stated that my client would only still responsible to handle the project in Switzerland. Hence, he flied there three days later. This is the copy of the ticket and also the statement from our and Switzerland immigration office"
Andrew smiled. He personally went to Switzerland obtain that document. With his connection, it was not difficult task at all.
The head judge studied the documents and showed them to the other two judges " "Evidents accepted. Prosecutor any question ?"
The prosecutor stood up "Mr Anderson. Where were you on april 30, three years ago"
Kenichi smiled "I was busy chasing a girl. At that time, I helped her move house"
"Where was it ?"
"Zurich"
Lawyer Noda interrupted "Your honour. In the statement from both countries immigration department, it clearly stated that My Client never left the country"
The judges were agreed. Lawyer Noda coughed "Just out of curiosity, did you manage to catch her ?"
Kenichi smile grew widder "We dated for over a year before I proposed. She's my wife now"
Lawyer Noda chuckled "So, You exchanged your career with a woman then"
The audience could not help but laughed.
"Well, your honour, our evidents are truth. We have few witnesses who can prove it" Lawyer Noda continued.
"Please "The judge proved the witness to come forward. His assistant than called the first witness.
Kenichi was surprise to see the man. He did not remembered his name but he was one of this team members. They did not close to each other at all, he wonder3e why the man was there.
The witnesses than made an oat to tell only the truth before he sat on witnesses seat.
"Witness, please introduce your self"
"My name is Takeda. I used to work under the accused for few years"
"Did the accused resign from his position back in march three years ago" Lawyer Noda asked
"Yes"
"Do you know the reason ?"
"Yes"
"Please explain"
"He was our planning director. He refused to prove the collapse building which we called flagship project"
"Thank you. Procecutor, fell free to ask question " Lawyer Noda ended his section
The prosecutor stood up "You're his subordinate. You are trying to cover up"
Lawyer Noda had expected this from the prosecutor. The ex-employee that currently worked at Kenichi's company came forward to be his witness. However, to avoid any misconception, Lawyer Noda asked them to find someone that did not work with him anymore. They eagerly contacted their ex-colleagues. Surprisingly, many people put their hand up.
"No, I don't. Back then, I dislike him. He was unfavourable not only for us, his team, the nearly all employees hated him. We were so happy when he resigned. I printed the notification of his resignation and framed it as a memento. In the evening, We held big party to celebrate" The witness then showed the judge his memorable momento.
"Then, why do you speak up for him now ?" the judge asked.
He signed "I feel guilty. I was one of them who swore and wished him to have bad luck when he against the project. We thought he was a selfish man who put hisself before the public interests"
"Can you explain more ?" the prosecutor asked.
"Planning director and Vice planning director were working on two different idea. Planning director proposed to build resort in small island while vice director came up with this shopping centre and apartment project. Both were profitable but the return of investment of the resort was longer. Few weeks before the meeting, Planning director had a engagement ceremony. However, his finance cancelled the enggament and declared that she was deeply in love to vice director who is director's cousin. We were under impression that planning director was againts the project to
avenge his cousin "