Dark side of top non-bank money lending company
The chairman of a major Japanese non-bank money-lending company was arrested for allegedly wiretapping the home of a free-lance journalist who had written articles criticizing the company.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on December 3 arrested Takei Yasuo, the founder and chairman of Takefuji Corporation, a top "consumer loan" firm listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Akahata of December 4 revealed the dark side of Takefuji.
Takefuji's declared income ranks 11th among all companies and is far greater than that of Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank. Takefuji Chairman Takei has the largest personal asset in Japan.
Takefuji started up with a small money lending company targeting housewives living in Tokyo's public housing complexes. He thought that public housing residents would be reliable customers because they rarely move out.
Under Takei, employees were forced to use strongarm tactics for the collection of loans which the company made at high interest rates.
Takefuji borrows money from banks at the interest rate of 1.85 percent, but it sets its lending rates at between 15 and 20 percent in violation of the law limiting interest rates.
The company went public on the over-the-counter market in 1996. It was listed in the First Section of the TSE in 1998 and became a member of the Japan Business Federation in 2002.
Takefuji used various backstage tactics in order to get socially recognized.
Takefuji invited a former Finance Ministry Banking Bureau director as an auditor and a former Metropolitan Police chief as an advisor.
The company also called in retirees of the Finance Ministry which oversees non-bank money-lending companies and securities firms companies as board members.
The company has reportedly spent hundreds of millions of yen to persuade gangster groups into cooperating with the company.
Takefuji used to demand damages in lawsuits against weekly magazines criticizing it. It filed a 110 million lawsuit against Miyake Katsuhisa, a free-lance journalist. Miyake said, "The company is trying to shut me up by having money speak and abusing the legal system."
To ensure that the company can continue with its high lending rates, Takei donated money to a political group of non-bank money lending businesses, which in turn spent about 9.3 million yen to buy tickets for fundraisers working for 84 Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic party politicians.
Last April, the Japanese Communist Party in the House of Representatives took up the issue of the excessive money lending assignments Takefuji imposed on its employees and illegal loans. In May, the JCP in the House of Councilors questioned the collusion between the company and the police.
In a court proceeding Takefuji once complained that the "JCP maintains a political strategy to attack the plaintiff (Takefuji)", thus revealing that he is afraid of the JCP and Akahata reports. (end)