Three former managers of Nichiei Co., now under fire for excessively aggressive loan-collection practices, have told investigators that President Kazuo Matsuda threatened to dismiss or demote employees who failed to collect debts, it was learned Tuesday.
The trio of managers, who worked at the Tokyo branch of Nichiei, Japan's largest lender of "shoko" high-interest loans, have since quit.
The Tokyo branch of the Kyoto-based company is where Eisuke Arai, arrested earlier this month, used to work. Arai allegedly suggested to a loan guarantor that he sell his body parts to pay off the debt. The suggestion is a violation of the money lending law, which prohibits aggressive loan collection.