TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested executives of a food-related company formerly listed on the JASDAQ stock exchange for filing a fraudulent securities report. The company is also alleged to have funded organized crime, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Mar. 8).
Hiroki Kikuchi, 55, the former president of Global Asia Holdings, and officer Toru Kikuchi, 56, are alleged to have falsely reported 445 million yen in assets to the Kanto Local Finance Bureau in July of 2014.
According to investigators, the false report was used to avoid a delisting of the company by the JASDAQ, which will take such action should a firm be insolvent for two straight years. In March of 2012, the company was deemed insolvent with 470 million yen in debt.
Two years later, it was discovered that approximately 200 million in funds raised through a new share issuance were “inappropriately withdrawn and could not be located,” according to a notice from the Japan Exchange Group (May 15, 2015).
Police believe that a portion of these funds went to the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group, according to Fuji News Network (Mar. 8).
Both suspects, who have been charged with violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, deny the allegations.
Global Asia Holding was delisted from the JADAQ in September of last year. The company engages in such businesses as restaurant management and foodstuff sales.
