KYOTO (TR) – Officers from the Kyoto District Public Prosecutor’s Office have arrested a former employee of a subsidiary of Sagawa Printing on charges of fraudf after he was forcibly returned to Japan from the Philippines, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 15).
Wearing a white breathing mask and a hat, Keiji Yuasa, 63, arrived at Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Immigration officials in the Philippines had apprehended Yuasa in October.
According to an indictment lodged last year, Yuasa has been charged with the fraudulent use of a computer to send 400 million yen in funds from subsidiary SP Tack, located in Kameoka City, to the former president of a construction company based in Kyoto in September of 2014.
The transfer was allegedly carried out by Takashi Miyaguchi, a 63-year-old former employee of SP Tack who worked under Yuasa. Miyaguchi has also been arrested.
“It is not fraud”
A lawyer for Yuasa claims that the charges are invalid, saying that the “president of Sagawa Printing knew about the transfer. It is not fraud.” Miyaguchi, however, admits to the allegations, according to investigators.
In January of last year, an internal investigation conducted by Sagawa Printing revealed criminal activity. In a report submitted to the company, Yuasa outlined a total of 9 billion yen in misappropriation of funds that he carried out between 2007 and 2014.
According to the Yomiuri, the funds were distributed for a variety of investments in multiple locations. The bulk of the funds (five billion yen) were invested in an automobile racing business in Singapore.
“[The money was] invested at the suggestion of the former president of the construction company,” Yuasa told the investigation team. “I wanted money for the future.”
Left Japan for Malaysia
The following month, Yuasa left Japan for Malaysia. He later moved to Manila, where he lived in an accommodation belonging to an acquaintance in the suburbs.
In March, SP Tack filed a complaint with the Kyoto District Public Prosecutor’s Office over the 400-million-yen transfer, according to Jiji Press (Nov. 15). Eight months later, a ruling handed down by the Kyoto District Court in a lawsuit filed by SP Tack ordered Yuasa to pay 530 million yen in compensation.
Regarding the criminal charges, Yuasa claimed in a letter that arrived at the office of the prosecutor earlier this month that the money “was a slush fund.” He also wondered, “How is it comprehensible that I, one person, could have done this?”
