Photo/Illutration A Bigmotor Co. used car outlet in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

An investigation by the Fair Trade Commission into scandal-plagued Bigmotor Co.s dealings with subcontractors left officials stunned at the egregious nature of the alleged bullying that went on.

They were also appalled at the lack of documentation within the used-car dealer and repair chain over the sort of demands that were made.

The FTC on March 15 issued an unprecedented number of complaints against a single company concerning the treatment of subcontractors.

But investigating officials fear the true nature of the companys dealings with subcontractors is much worse than they imagined because they only looked into about 30 or so of Bigmotor’s 239 outlets around Japan.

Yoshifumi Kanno, senior subcontracts inspector at the FTC, said at a March 15 news conference, “Our investigation was an unprecedentedly difficult one because there was very little physical evidence or testimony from individuals.”

He said that Bigmotor placed “excessive priority on pursuing its own benefits.”

This, Kanno added, meant there was a lack of an awareness of corporate governance in the organization that resulted “in violations on an unheard-of scale.”

The FTC ordered Bigmotor to establish a panel of outside lawyers and other independent experts to probe further into the company’s treatment of subcontractors.

Not only did Bigmotor fail to keep adequate records, but many employees apparently quit because they were fed up with its business practices. This meant there were few people who really knew what had been going on.

The FTC found a record eight areas in which Bigmotor and a subsidiary violated the subcontractors law.

Among the violations uncovered was the unilateral slashing by 27 percent of the amounts paid to subcontractors that received orders from Bigmotor.

The company also stands accused of demanding that subcontractors purchase used vehicles for about 1 million yen ($6,700) each on grounds workers splashed water into the interior of the vehicles during repair work.

The FTC said Bigmotor demanded that employees and their family members working at subcontractors bring their cars to Bigmotor for authorized inspections.

It said Bigmotor forced subcontractors to clean and remove weeds from Bigmotor outlet workspaces without payment.

Such practices continued from at least as late as 2021. The FTC said at least 12 subcontractors found themselves doing the work.

Bigmotor executives also gave instructions that crossed the line between what is legal and what is not.

The subcontracting law requires companies commissioning work to submit written invoices to subcontractors outlining the nature of the project they want done and to store the reports submitted by subcontractors of the work carried out.

But Bigmotor failed to keep proper records, making it unclear exactly what kind of subcontracting was sought.

Subcontractors were told or sent Line messages about what work they should do. But a past Bigmotor president ordered the deletion of all work-related Line messages, with the result that all records of such exchanges with subcontractors were lost.

The FTC issued a recommendation calling on Bigmotor to submit reports from the outside panel it sets up at regular intervals and to compensate subcontractors for any losses that may have been incurred.

This is the first time the FTC has ever issued such a recommendation.