Nomura Securities Co. gave illegal payoffs of roughly 370 million yen to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist as a token of gratitude for his refraining from disturbing its general shareholders' meeting in 1995, the president of the brokerage acknowledged July 24 at an open Finance Ministry hearing.
Junichi Ujiie, president of the nation's largest brokerage, said in-house investigations revealed that the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission's discoveries of shady dealings were true. After the obligatory hearing, the first open to the media, the ministry was expected to hand the brokerage a severe administrative penalty -- a move that could come as early as next week.
"We recognize that for the most part, the facts (as found by the SESC) are true, and it cannot be helped if it is determined that we gave financial favors to a customer," Ujiie said in response to questions by ministry officials. The paybacks funneled to the sokaiya, Ryuichi Koike, through falsified stock and warrant transactions amounted to nearly 49 million yen, Ujiie said, while another 320 million yen went to the extortionist in the form of cash.