A former executive of a Mitsukoshi Ltd. subsidiary and two other officials were arrested Wednesday for alleged aggravated breach of trust in connection with 180 million yen in payments to a construction company on the verge of financial collapse.
Three executives of the Goyo Kensetsu construction firm, which failed in 1994, were also arrested. Police said Keiji Takemasa, 64, former managing director of Mitsukoshi Seisakusho, an affiliate of the department store chain that makes furniture and does interior work, illicitly gave about 1.9 billion yen to the contractor, spread out over more than 10 occasions between April and September 1994, ostensibly for construction fees.
Hardly any construction took place, and the Mitsukoshi affiliate instead incurred about 1.8 billion yen in losses, they said. Masahiro Yoshihara, 64, president of the construction company, and two other executives are believed to have used the payments to pay off the contractor's debt. Investigators are trying to determine if Takemasa and the two Mitsukoshi Seisakusho officials received kickbacks in the scheme, police sources said.
According to police, Takemasa, in conspiracy with Yoshihara, ordered Goyo Kensetsu to build a condominium in Tokyo's Meguro Ward and a video game arcade in Tokyo's Ota Ward in April 1994, knowing the firm was unable to carry out the projects.
About 180 million yen was paid for the projects, police said. Takemasa and Yoshihara were high school classmates. The business between Mitsukoshi Seisakusho and Goyo Kensetsu started around 1994.