[Last One Mile Labor Union] Affair Scandal and Company Privatization

Makoto Watanabe: "Even a lie can easily be made into the truth."

Makoto Watanabe's relationships cannot be dismissed as a business owner's personal affair or private life.

The problem is a series of company misappropriations, including multiple girlfriends of an employee—who were neither employees nor business partners of Last One Mile Inc.—repeatedly participating in employee events and dinners, with their dining expenses charged to the company, company meeting rooms used for private drinking parties, employees being forced to help with a girlfriend's business during working hours, and a corporation with another girlfriend appointed as its representative being used as a receptacle for structured bonds and subsidy-related businesses.

Official Executive Introduction of Last One Mile Inc.Then, Mr. Watanabe is still listed as Representative Director, Chairman and CEO.

If the CEO uses their own wallet for their personal life, it is primarily their own problem. However, the moment they drag the company's wallet, conference rooms, employees, business partners, and corporate name into their personal life, it becomes a corporate incident that must be scrutinized by workers, shareholders, business partners, audit corporations, tax authorities, and investigative agencies.

And now, extremely striking information has been submitted that symbolizes Mr. Watanabe's turning of the company into his personal property.

I can easily turn even a lie into the truth.

These words were spoken neither at an employee training session nor at a board of directors meeting.

This was right after Mr. Watanabe invited his girlfriend to the meeting room of Last One Mile Co., Ltd., shifted the blame for his own ordering mistake onto the delivery driver, and had them bring a new product free of charge based on a false complaint.

The Representative Director boasting about the power to turn lies into truth. Everyone present, aside from the girlfriend in the relationship, was left speechless.

Did Makoto Watanabe have the company pay for the dining expenses of his girlfriend and family?

According to information received by our association, Makoto Watanabe, a married man, has maintained continuous relationships with multiple women and has repeatedly had those women participate in events and dinners hosted by employees.

In the following, out of consideration for privacy, the names, ages, places of residence, and other identifying information of the women will not be mentioned, and they will be referred to as "romantic partners."

The female companions were neither employees of Last One Mile Co., Ltd., nor business partners of the company, nor professionals entrusted with operations. Nevertheless, it is reported that the expenses for food and drink incurred when they were present were processed as expenses of Last One Mile Co., Ltd.

Furthermore, information has been received that there were cases where even the food and beverage expenses for Mr. Watanabe's family were processed as company expenses during dinners involving employees.

The facts that the company needs to check are not difficult.

• The dates, locations, and participants of dinners, events, trips, and other activities attended by the female partner or family members.
• Total payment amount for food and beverages, transportation expenses, accommodation expenses, gifts, car dispatch fees, and others.
• Corporate card, personal card, expense reimbursement, or payment via an affiliated company used for the payment.
• The business purpose, name of the client, name(s) of the guests/attendees, and account title listed in the expense report.
• the executives, supervisors, accounting personnel, and final approvers who applied for, reviewed, and approved the expenses.
• Specific work, deliverables, or economic consideration provided to the company by the dating partner or family.
• The amount returned to the company by Mr. Watanabe or the beneficiary after the discovery of the personal expense.
• Treatment concerning corporate tax, executive compensation, economic benefits, withholding income tax, and consumption tax.

If there was no business purpose and only the company bore the expense, it is not an entertainment expense of the company.

This is the representative director's private dining and entertainment expense.

During the in-house training, Mr. Watanabe explained that even if employees are found to be using company cards for personal expenses at bars and restaurants, it is "fine," as long as they are subjected to a pay cut or dismissal after being caught.

If you have dismissal ready for the personal use of employees, but the company's wallet ready for the meals of the representative director's girlfriend and family, that is not internal control.

It is a Makoto Watanabe-style expense system where the higher your position, the greater your allowance for personal use of the company card.

Makoto Watanabe's sexual remarks, continuing from weddings to cabaret clubs and employee training

Along with the issue of company expenses, it is also impossible to overlook the fact that Mr. Watanabe's sexually suggestive remarks and behavior had become commonplace in front of employees and business partners.

hitting on a former employee about twelve years younger at an employee's wedding

According to information received by our association, Mr. Watanabe flirted with a former female employee who is about 24 years younger than him at an employee's wedding held a few months ago, causing strong discomfort to her and surrounding participants.

At a gathering to celebrate a marriage, the representative director of a listed company treats a woman who previously worked at the company as a new romantic interest. It may have been a point of pride in his own dating skills, but to the employees, it is a bizarre spectacle in which even former employees remain targets of the representative's sexual interest after leaving the company.

Even if the other person has already left the company, having sexual advances by a company representative displayed at an event with many current employees attending impacts female employees' peace of mind, the relationship with former employees, recruitment, workplace psychological safety, and the company's social credibility.

Take employees or business partners to a cabaret club and touch the women's breasts

Information has also been received that Mr. Watanabe repeatedly took employees and business partners to cabaret clubs, handed money to female employees right in front of them, and touched their chests.

When the representative director treats a woman's body as a form of entertainment during a business-related client entertainment setting, accompanying staff are forced into an unreasonable choice between laughing along or objecting to the representative.

If employees show reluctance, won't it affect human resources, performance evaluations, and assignments? If clients show displeasure, won't it affect contracts and trading conditions? The very act of parading the representative's sexual behavior in a setting with an overwhelming power imbalance destroys a healthy workplace and business environment.

If entertaining clients to build trust has turned into a training session to witness the representative director's sexual bravado, what the company loses is not just the cost of food and drinks.

Passionately lecturing on "how to seduce women" in official employee training

The training video conducted by Mr. Watanabe for employees also recorded a scene where, despite being in a position to teach company management, sales, legal affairs, labor relations, and the like, he smugly and passionately lectured on "how to seduce women."

This is not casual chatter shared with a friend at an izakaya. It is a formal training session conducted by the representative director of a listed company for its employees.

What should be taught to employees is customer service, legal compliance, workers' rights, information management, and accounting accuracy. It is not bringing how to get a girlfriend into company training.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare guide on sexual harassmentTherefore, it is explained that banquets recognized as an extension of work are also included in the "workplace."

Sexual jokes, persistent invitations for meals or dates, unnecessary physical contact, and personal sexual anecdotes are cited as typical examples of sexual comments and behavior.

Article 11, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment: An employer shall, in order to ensure that workers employed by them do not suffer any disadvantage in working conditions by reason of the said workers' response to sexual speech and behavior conducted in the workplace, or that the working environment of the said workers is not harmed by the said sexual speech and behavior, take necessary measures in terms of employment management, such as establishing the necessary system to respond to consultations from the said workers and to handle them appropriately.

If the representative director themselves repeatedly makes sexual remarks or engages in sexual behavior at events, business entertainment, and training sessions, the company cannot simply dismiss it as "just the president's personality."

The Board of Directors and the Audit and Supervisory Committee are responsible for fact-finding, protecting the whistleblower, taking corrective action, imposing disciplinary measures, and preventing recurrence.

Makoto Watanabe, who turned the conference room into a private lounge for his romantic partner

There is information that, despite having no business relationship with Last One Mile Co., Ltd., Mr. Watanabe invited a certain woman he was dating to the company's meeting room, ordered food and drinks via Uber Eats, and held a lavish drinking party involving alcohol.

The company meeting room incurs costs such as rent, utility bills, communication expenses, cleaning fees, security fees, equipment expenses, and others. It is a facility used by employees for company business operations.

This is not a private lounge for the representative director to show off to his girlfriend.

Turning one's own ordering mistake into a delivery person's mistake to have a new item brought for free

At the drinking party held in this conference room, Mr. Watanabe ordered items via Uber Eats.

However, even though Mr. Watanabe made a mistake in his own order, after the product arrived, he complained as if the mistake was the delivery side's fault.

Mr. Watanabe verbally abused the delivery person harshly and, while concealing his own ordering mistake, had them bring a new item without any financial burden to himself.

While the delivery person was forced to bear the burden of extra travel, waiting, communication, and redelivery, Mr. Watanabe did not bear any of the costs resulting from the ordering mistake.

And after having them bring new products for free, he proudly said the following in front of his girlfriend and employees.

I can easily turn even a lie into the truth.

According to the explanation provided to our union, every employee other than the dating partner who heard this boast was turned off, and the meeting room fell into a bizarre atmosphere.

Mr. Watanabe probably thought he was showing off his cool side to the woman he was dating.

What the employees saw was the representative of a listed company who refused to admit their own mistakes, verbally abused a vulnerable delivery worker, shifted losses onto others through false explanations, and boasted about this as management ability.

Article 246, Paragraph 1 of the Penal Code: A person who deceives another person to deliver property shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 10 years.

Knowing that it was your own ordering mistake, the act of falsely claiming it was the store's or delivery's mistake and having a new product delivered free of charge is subject to consideration for the crime of fraud stipulated in Article 246 of the Penal Code.

Article 703 of the Civil Code: A person who has received a benefit from the property or services of another without legal cause and has thereby caused loss to that other person shall be under an obligation to return that benefit to the extent that it still exists.

At the very least, issues regarding the return or compensation for goods obtained for free or the burden of re-delivery will arise.

However, what the labor union views most seriously in this matter is not just the price of a single meal.

The representative director shared a success story in front of the employees, promoting the ideology that if you push through lies, severely blame the other party, and make others shoulder the losses, you can ultimately turn lies into truth.

This philosophy is completely connected to statements identified in past training sessions, such as "judge based on the probability of getting caught, not whether it's illegal," "reasons can be made up afterward," and "if the board swallows the risk, we execute it."

I need to investigate whether the behavioral principle that emerged from a single Uber Eats order is also being used in expenses, accounting, investment, subsidies, whistleblowing, and explanations to investigative authorities.

Did you turn your employees into a promotional team for your girlfriend's nail salon?

Another girlfriend of mine ran her own nail salon.

According to information received by our union, current employees of Last One Mile Inc. were made to distribute flyers for that nail salon during working hours.

This information comes from employees who were actually instructed to distribute flyers.

While the dating partner's salon benefits from advertising, Last One Mile Inc. bears the costs for employee wages, travel time, transportation expenses, and business opportunities.

If the company has officially entered into an advertising contract with a nail salon and received appropriate compensation, it is sufficient to provide the contract, invoice, payment record, internal approval document, distribution plan, and deliverables.

If there was no such contract or compensation, and employees were mobilized simply because she is Mr. Watanabe's romantic partner, this would constitute the gratuitous provision of the company's labor to a third party.

• The person who instructed the distribution of the flyers, the date and time, and the instruction method.
• The number of employees ordered to distribute, their departments, and working hours.
• Flyer creation costs, printing costs, transportation expenses, and company equipment used for distribution.
• Contract and compensation between Last One Mile Inc. and the nail salon.
• Executives, department heads, and accounting personnel who approved it as a work order.
• Whether there was any unfavorable treatment of employees who refused distribution or expressed doubts.
• Sales, reservations, customer information, and other economic benefits obtained by the nail salon.

Employees are employed to provide labor for the business of Last One Mile Inc.

I am not working to provide a free sales force to the representative director's mistress.

Did the corporation with the dating partner appointed as its representative become a "box" for structured bonds and subsidies?

Even more serious is the corporation established with another girlfriend appointed as its representative.

According to the information received by our association, while the corporation was registered with a female companion as its representative, Makoto Watanabe was actually leading the business conception, sales, clients, and cash flow.

And this corporate entity was used as the destination for investment funds in structured foreign stock bonds, in connection with which Mr. Watanabe was sent to the prosecutors on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

In addition to the accounts under Mr. Watanabe's personal name, LG Asset Co., Ltd., and other related parties that were organized in the existing article, if a corporation with his romantic partner set up as its representative was also serving as a receptacle for funds, investigative agencies need to map out all transfer destinations, account holders, ultimate beneficial owners, remittance destinations, and final beneficiaries into a single financial chart.

The same legal entity was also used for sales operations of business schemes utilizing subsidies from 2021 to 2022.

The sales destination was a business partner of Last One Mile Inc.

If the subsidy-related business was funneled to a corporation under the name of Mr. Watanabe's romantic partner, which he essentially controls, by taking advantage of the client relationships the company built over many years, it would mean that Last One Mile Inc.'s customer base was used as a sales directory to nurture the representative's private business.

It's not just the representative's name listed in the registry that needs to be checked.

• The person who proposed the establishment of the corporation, provided the capital, and determined the articles of incorporation and business purpose.
• The person who managed corporate seals, bank seals, bankbooks, internet banking, and accounting data.
• The distinction between the business independently decided upon by Mr. Watanabe's female partner and the business conducted under Mr. Watanabe's instructions.
• Regarding structured bonds, the deposited investors, amounts, deposit dates, and subsequent destinations of the remittances.
• Name of the system used for the subsidy-related project, applicant, application details, grant amount, and deliverables.
• The rosters, emails, job titles, and introducers used when conducting sales to business partners of Last One Mile Co., Ltd.
• Personnel costs, operating expenses, advertising expenses, meeting expenses, and referral fees borne by Last Mile Inc. or its affiliated companies.
• Remuneration, loans, outsourcing fees, and dividends paid from the corporate entity to Mr. Watanabe, his romantic partner, defendant Toshiyuki Nakano, Mr. Satoshi Saito, and others.
• Did the Board of Directors, the Audit and Supervisory Committee, the Accounting Department, the Legal Department, and the accounting auditor understand the substance of the transactions with this corporate entity?

If you set up the woman you are dating as the representative, it does not make Mr. Watanabe's substantial control disappear.

If a company uses its business partners and explains that it is "not my company" only when a problem arises, it means that the corporate entity was used not as a shield for liability, but as a curtain to hide actual control.

Satoshi Saito's "Angel Box" and the subsidy case involving defendant Tamaki Nakano

The structure of using a corporation in the name of a female partner as a fund recipient or operational shell is not a one-time idea unique to Makoto Watanabe.

According to the information available to our association, Satoshi Saito, a certified public accountant and former head of the Corporate Planning Office at Last One Mile Co., Ltd., referred to Defendant Kazuyoshi Nakano's company as "Angel Box" and introduced it to multiple investors.

It is reported that Defendant Nakano was re-arrested on suspicion of fraud and attempted fraud, on the grounds that on the same day he was indicted for violations of the Consumption Tax Act and other offenses, he defrauded an incorporated administrative agency of 10 million yen in subsidies. The Kagoshima District Public Prosecutors Office has not disclosed whether he admits or denies the charges.

Arranging the information surrounding Mr. Makoto Watanabe, Defendant Tatsuki Nakano, and Mr. Satoshi Saito reveals a common structure of using corporations as "boxes."

• Makoto Watanabe will outline a comprehensive vision combining investments, subsidies, business partners, companies, and personnel.
• Defendant Kazuyoshi Nakano plays a role in executing corporate operations, administrative applications, business activities, contracts, fund transfers, and other related matters.
• Satoshi Saito uses his credibility as a certified public accountant to present the company as the "Angel Box."
• Mr. Watanabe's romantic partner, secretary, associates, etc., are put forward as corporate representatives or persons in charge of operations.
• Use the clients, employees, conference rooms, titles, and reputation of Last One Mile Inc. for projects outside the company.
• Distribute the funds among multiple corporations, personal accounts, loans, outsourcing fees, investments, and subsidies.

The company that Mr. Saito called the "Angel Box."

The corporation that Mr. Watanabe used by appointing his romantic partner as its representative.

The subsidy project involving the defendant Nakano.

Even if the names differ, the underlying structure remains the same: the nominal representative or company is put at the forefront, while the actual designer, director, and financial beneficiary are kept in the background.

It is neither Pandora's box nor a gift for a girlfriend.

It is a box that investigates who put the money in, who shifted the responsibility, and who finally took out the profits.

What the Companies Act prohibits is directors treating the company as their own wallet.

Article 355 of the Companies Act: Directors shall comply with laws and regulations, the articles of incorporation, and resolutions of shareholders meetings, and shall faithfully perform their duties for the stock company.

Directors must perform their duties for the corporation, not for their romantic partners, families, sole proprietorships, or personal investment associates.

The acts of using company funds, facilities, labor, and business partners for a romantic partner's dining, private banquets, nail salon advertisements, and sales activities for external corporations directly conflict with the duty of loyalty.

When a director engages in a transaction with the company for themselves or a third party, the approval of the board of directors and the disclosure of material facts pursuant to Articles 356 and 365 of the Companies Act become issues.

If company personnel, credibility, customers, or expenses were provided to the corporate entity of the girlfriend, the board of directors must explain at least the following points.

• The necessity of the transaction and the company's profits.
• The relationship between Mr. Watanabe and the opposing party.
• Material facts disclosed to the board of directors.
• Did the directors who participated in the deliberation and Mr. Watanabe recuse themselves from voting?
• Were the price, conditions, and consideration reasonable compared to normal transactions with a third party?
• Expenses borne by the company and profits earned by the company.

Article 423, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act: Directors, accounting advisors, company auditors, executive officers, or accounting auditors shall, when they fail to perform their duties, be liable to the stock company for damages resulting therefrom.

Article 960, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act: When any of the following persons, for the purpose of promoting their own or a third party's interest or inflicting damage on a stock company, acts in breach of their duties and inflicts financial damage on the stock company, they shall be punished by imprisonment with work for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than 10 million yen, or both.

Depending on the management status of company assets, not only special breach of trust under Article 960 of the Companies Act, but also embezzlement in the course of business under Article 253 of the Penal Code will be considered.

In addition, regarding private expenses covered by the company, it is necessary to verify everything up to the deductibility for corporate income tax purposes, directors' salaries or bonuses, withholding income tax, consumption tax, and income treatment on the beneficiary side.

Romantic relationships are an expense account that exists in neither the Companies Act nor the Corporate Tax Act.

Does the "Mamizuka Memo"’s "Overall Diagram of Last-Mile Fraud" trace down to the corporate entity of the girlfriend he was dating?

The Prosecutors' Union, part of a separate media outlet called "Okami no Union," releasedMamizuka Memo articleWell, the title of the document is stated as "Overall Diagram of Fraud by Last One Mile Group Inc."

In the materials, Makoto Watanabe, Last Mile Inc., multiple related corporations and parties, outsourcing expenses, loans, illicit funds, advertising expenses, investments, tax effects, and others are connected by complex arrows.

Furthermore, it even stated that the Kagoshima District Public Prosecutors Office and the Fukuoka High Public Prosecutors Office were "motivated," and mentioned that there would be "complaints, indictments, arrests" and that it would "turn into a case of considerable scale."

The recent issue surrounding the woman he was dating is not some tabloid gossip outside of his memos.

• The issue of charging personal dining expenses for a romantic partner and family to the company.
• The issue of using the company conference room for a party with a girlfriend.
• The issue of fraudulently obtaining products through false claims and verbally abusing the delivery driver.
• The issue of using employee work hours to promote a romantic partner's nail salon.
• The issue of using a corporation with the man's girlfriend as its representative as the destination for structured bond payments.
• The issue of using the same corporate entity to market subsidy-related businesses to Last One Mile Inc.'s clients.
• The roles of Defendant Tamaki Nakano, Mr. Satoshi Saito, and Mr. Makoto Watanabe regarding the angel tax system, subsidies, corporations, and funding allocation.

All of these are issues at the center of the overall fraud map drawn up in the Mamizuka Memo, which encompasses corporate funds, corporate labor, related corporations, ultimate beneficial owners, business partners, and fund transfers.

If the National Tax Agency and the prosecutors are truly investigating Last One Mile Inc. as their primary target, there is no need to expose the private lives of the girlfriends and others.

If you check expense reports, corporate cards, entry/exit logs, meeting room reservations, Uber Eats orders and complaint history, payroll, work orders, corporate registration, bank accounts, subsidy applications, and sales records to clients, it becomes clear where company resources and funds went.

Conversely, if they only investigate the 40 investors or instructed employees and fail to investigate the corporations, expenses, labor, and transfer destinations connected through Mr. Watanabe's personal relationships, the investigation will once again end at the gates of the main citadel.

Records that last-mile workers should preserve right now

What must be avoided most in this matter is that only the employees who followed Mr. Watanabe's instructions are held responsible later as the perpetrators of expense fraud, subsidy sales, false applications, and fund transfers.

Organize the date and time you received instructions, the person who gave them, the purpose, expense processing, and the contact person for consultation while your memory is fresh. Without altering the original documents held by the company, it is important to request their preservation through official retention procedures, a labor union, a lawyer, an external whistleblowing hotline, or investigative agencies.

• Invitations, schedules, attendees, receipts, credit card statements, and expense claims for dinners attended by dating partners or family members.
• Emails, chats, and calendars instructing participation in company events, employee events, client entertainment, cabaret clubs, etc.
• Conference room reservations, visitor registration, entry and exit, security, surveillance cameras, and food and beverage order records.
• Records of Uber Eats order details, customer information, payment methods, post-delivery complaints, communications with support, reorders, and records of refunds or complimentary provisions.
• Date and time, location, and companions present when hearing the abuse directed at the delivery person and the statement, "Even if it's a lie, I can easily turn it into the truth."
• Nail salon flyers, distribution instructions, distribution dates and times, work schedule, transportation expenses, and work reports.
• Training video, audio, and transcript of Mr. Watanabe talking about his relationships with women, how he flirts, his sexual experiences, etc.
• Corporate registration, contracts, invoices, bank accounts, and accounting data for a corporation represented by a dating partner.
• Investment explanations regarding structured bonds, transfer instructions, Telegram, LINE, records of dividends and refunds.
• Sales materials, customer lists, application documents, grant records, and deliverables related to subsidy programs conducted from 2021 to 2022.
• Record of instructions to introduce Last One Mile Inc.'s business partners to an external corporate entity.
• Records of deposits and withdrawals between Makoto Watanabe, defendant Toshiaki Nakano, Satoshi Saito, the corporate body representing the romantic partner, LG Asset Co., Ltd., and others.
• Records of consultations with the Board of Directors, Audit and Supervisory Committee, Internal Audit, Legal, Accounting, and the Independent Auditor.
• Disadvantageous treatment such as transfer, performance evaluation change, reprimand, or demand for resignation received after pointing out an issue.

What the company needs to protect is not Mr. Watanabe's personal relationships.

They are the employees who were forced to follow instructions, the employees who pointed out the problems, the well-meaning business partners, the shareholders, the customers, and the corporation Last One Mile Inc. itself.

Open Questions to Mr. Makoto Watanabe

1. How many times did you accompany a female partner, who is neither an employee nor a business partner of Last One Mile Inc., to employee events, dinners, or company facilities?
2. Did you have Last One Mile Co., Ltd. or its affiliated companies bear the costs for food and drink, travel, accommodation, gifts, and other expenses incurred by the woman you were dating?
3. Have you processed personal dining expenses attended by family members as company expenses under the guise of business dinners with employees or similar?
4. If there are any company-paid expenses, please clarify the date and time, amount, business purpose, account title, and approver for each expenditure.
5. Did you invite your girlfriend to the company's meeting room, order food and drinks via Uber Eats, etc., and hold a drinking party?
6. Please clarify the business purpose, participants, and person bearing the cost for the meeting room usage and food and beverage expenses.
7. Have you ever placed an incorrect Uber Eats order yourself and then complained that it was the delivery person's mistake?
8. Did you violently berate the delivery person and make them bring a new item without any financial burden?
9. Immediately after that, did you state in front of the employee and your girlfriend, "I can easily turn a lie into the truth"?
10. Have you compensated the store, Uber, or the delivery person for the product price, redelivery costs, and other losses incurred as a result of the false claim?
11. Did you instruct employees to distribute flyers for a nail salon run by your girlfriend during working hours?
12. Regarding the distribution of flyers, are there any contracts for which Last One Mile Co., Ltd. received consideration?
13. Did you make contact, such as asking for a relationship, with a former female employee who is about 24 years younger than you at an employee's wedding?
14. Did you visit hostess bars or similar establishments accompanied by employees or business partners, give money to female employees, and touch their breasts?
15. Do you admit to the fact that you explained "how to seduce women" in the employee training?
16. Did you have your romantic partner act as the representative to establish a corporation, and did you effectively manage or control it?
17. Did you use the corporation as the destination account for investments in foreign equity-linked structured bonds?
18. Between 2021 and 2022, did you use the relevant corporation to market subsidy-related businesses to Last One Mile Inc.'s business partners?
19. Please clarify all monies paid by the corporation to Mr. Watanabe, his romantic partner, Defendant Toshiyoshi Nakano, Mr. Satoshi Saito, and others.
20. Will you fully reimburse the company for private expenses, labor costs, and facility usage fees incurred by the company for your romantic partner or family?
21. Will all terminals, communications, expenses, accounts, corporate, and subsidy materials related to this matter be submitted to a third-party investigation independent of Mr. Watanabe?

Open Questions to the Board of Directors and Audit & Supervisory Committee of Last1Mile Co., Ltd.

1. Do you know the food and beverage expenses, transportation expenses, accommodation expenses, or other expenses related to Makoto Watanabe's dating partner or family?
2. Have you extracted Mr. Watanabe's personal expenses, expenses with unknown participants, and expenses with unknown business purposes from all past expense details?
3. Have you investigated the fact that the company's meeting room was used for private drinking parties with a romantic partner?
4. Did you interview attendees regarding the Uber Eats order in the meeting room, the false claim, redelivery, and Mr. Watanabe's remarks?
5. Have you investigated the fact that employees were made to distribute flyers for an external nail salon during working hours?
6. Have you received any internal consultations, complaints, or information regarding Mr. Watanabe's sexual remarks and behavior at weddings, cabaret clubs, training sessions, or other occasions?
7. Did you implement an independent investigation, protection of the complainant, and prevention of recurrence based on Article 11 of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act?
8. Do you know about any transactions between a corporation represented by the woman you are dating and Last One Mile Co., Ltd. or its affiliated companies?
9. Have you obtained Board of Directors' approval pursuant to Articles 356 and 365 of the Companies Act regarding the transaction with the corporation in question?
10. Did you exclude Mr. Watanabe from the vote as a director with a special interest?
11. Have you investigated the fact that the corporation in question was used as the destination for structured bond transfers and as the operating entity for subsidy-related businesses?
12. Were the business partner information, customer list, employees, equipment, or credit of Last One Mile Co., Ltd. provided to that corporation?
13. Did you cross-examine the fund transactions of Mr. Watanabe, defendant Toshiaki Nakano, Mr. Satoshi Saito, the corporate entity associated with the romantic partner, and LG Asset Co., Ltd.?
14. If personal expenses or the provision of gratuitous benefits are confirmed, will you demand reimbursement to the company, pursue executive liability, and make tax rectifications?
15. Have you examined the impact of this matter on timely disclosure, internal control reports, related party transactions, and the eligibility of the Representative Director?
16. Have you reported this matter to the major shareholders, the accounting auditor, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and the relevant authorities?
17. Will Mr. Watanabe be completely excluded from the selection of the commissioned investigation agency, evidence collection, interviews with relevant parties, and the approval of the investigation results?

Open questions to the National Tax Agency and the Public Prosecutors Office

1. Are you investigating the accounts of all related corporations, including the corporation of the female partner, regarding the overview of fraud by Last One Mile Co., Ltd. described in the Mamizuka memo?
2. Have you checked the accounting, tax, and Companies Act treatments regarding Makoto Watanabe's personal dining expenses, use of company facilities, and external provision of employee labor?
3. Are you aware of the fact that the corporate entity associated with the female partner was used as the destination for remitting funds for unregistered structured bonds?
4. Are you confirming the applications, grants, sales, deliverables, and use of funds regarding the subsidy-related projects conducted by the same corporation from 2021 to 2022?
5. Have you confirmed the fact that Last One Mile Inc.'s client information was used for Mr. Watanabe's personal external business?
6. Are you aware of the fact that Mr. Watanabe stated, "I can easily turn a lie into the truth," and are you verifying the credibility of his explanations to investigative agencies and tax authorities?
7. Are you investigating by distinguishing between employees who followed instructions and the person who gave the instructions, conceived the plan, and obtained the profits?
8. Will you take measures to ensure that employees, former employees, business partners, and informants are not subjected to retaliation by Mr. Watanabe or company executives?
9. Will you ensure strict information management so that the subjects of the investigation, planned seizures, planned questioning, and prospective dispositions regarding this case are not leaked externally before formal procedures?

Measures Sought by the Last Mile Labor Union

1. Last Mile Inc. shall make this matter a formal agenda item for the Board of Directors and the Audit and Supervisory Committee.
2. Completely exclude Makoto Watanabe from the selection of the investigative contractor, access to evidence, interviews with relevant parties, and approval of the investigation results.
3. Investigate all expenses related to the partner or family, including conference room usage, business trips, dinners, and gifts, retroactively.
4. Preserve Uber Eats order, complaint, redelivery, and payment records, and compensate for any losses incurred by the restaurant, Uber, or the delivery partner.
5. Calculate the working hours, labor costs, transportation expenses, and company assets used for distributing the nail salon flyers, and have them returned to the company.
6. Conduct an independent investigation into the ultimate beneficial owner, account manager, contract decision-maker, and ultimate beneficiary of the entity associated with the female partner.
7. Conduct a comprehensive cross-sectional investigation into the relationships among structured bonds, subsidies, the angel tax system, and other businesses, and the mistress's corporation, LG Asset Co., Ltd., N Co., Ltd., Mr. Watanabe, Defendant Toshiyuki Nakano, and Mr. Satoshi Saito.
8. Investigate all cases where company client information, employees, facilities, and credibility were provided to external corporations.
9. If personal expenses or provision of benefits are confirmed, we will demand reimbursement to the company, pursue executive liability, make tax amendments, and file necessary criminal and administrative reports.
10. Regarding sexually suggestive remarks, conduct hearings by an external expert independent of Mr. Watanabe to ensure the safety of the complainant and related parties.
11. Prohibit searches, intimidation, transfers, dismissals, and other retaliatory measures against employees, former employees, business partners, informants, and investigation cooperators.
12. Specifically explain the investigation results, involved parties, refund amount, tax revisions, disciplinary actions, and preventive measures to employees, shareholders, business partners, major shareholders, financial auditors, and the market.

Protect the lives of last-mile workers, not Makoto Watanabe's dating relationships

What the Last One Mile Labor Union is taking issue with is not Makoto Watanabe's private life itself, specifically who he is dating.

To support that private life, Last One Mile Co., Ltd.'s money, meeting rooms, employee working hours, business partners, corporate name, and social credibility were used.

Hitting on a former employee at an employee's wedding, touching a woman's body in front of clients, talking about how to pick up women at a company training session, inviting his girlfriend to a company meeting room, blaming a delivery person for his own ordering mistake, and finally boasting that "even lies can easily be made into truth."

In a company that dismisses this as part of the representative director's personality, the next targets to be turned from truth to falsehood by lies could be employee evaluations, expense processing, accounting records, subsidy applications, investment contracts, whistleblowing, or statements to investigative agencies.

As foretold in the Mamizuka memo, if the investigations by the National Tax Agency and the prosecutor's office are moving toward the core of Last Mile Inc., before shifting the responsibility onto innocent employees, please investigate the expenses, corporations, accounts, business partners, and company resources that Mr. Watanabe utilized through his personal relationships.

Neither the Board of Directors nor the Audit and Supervisory Committee must confuse protecting the company with protecting Makoto Watanabe's personal relationships and private business.

What the company should support is not the Representative Director's affair.

I am a worker at Last One Mile Inc. who works every day and supports my livelihood and family with that salary.