Rock star Eikichi Yazawa has filed a complaint with Australian financial authorities alleging that he has been defrauded of about 3.5 billion yen in a scam involving a construction project in Australia, it was learned Monday.
The Australian securities watchdog has already launched a probe into the case, according to the Tokyo office of the 48-year-old singer. Yazawa had planned to build a 24-story building on the Gold Coast, Queensland, which was to accommodate a recording studio and a music school, his office said.
He has already paid some 3.1 billion yen to owners of the land at the planned construction site, plus about 400 million yen as an operational fund to a local firm established by his office. However, an executive of the local firm -- who is of Japanese ancestry and an acquaintance of Yazawa -- borrowed money from banks by offering the land plots as collateral. The man allegedly did so without the consent of Yazawa's office.
His office said it learned earlier this year that the land was seized by the banks and later sold by auction to a third party, because the acquaintance had failed to repay the loans. The office then filed a complaint with the Australian securities watchdog, which has launched a joint investigation with local police, according to the office.