The Industrial Bank of Japan has filed a lawsuit seeking annulment of the sale of a Tokyo property by a former Sogo Co. chairman who is the guarantor of 11 billion yen in IBJ loans to the failed department store chain, lawyers said.
The bank is asking the Tokyo District Court to nullify the sale in June of a property in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward consisting of a house and 220 sq. meters of land by Hiroo Mizushima, 88.
It alleged that Mizushima sold the property to his brother-in-law to prevent the bank from seizing it as collateral. Mizushima has guaranteed an 11 billion yen portion of a 13.6 billion yen IBJ loan to Sogo.