Police on Monday searched sites linked to a former newspaper president in Gunma Prefecture on suspicion he arranged for the paper to help him guarantee more than 4.46 billion yen in debts incurred by his real estate firm, police sources said.
Tatsuo Satori, 60, former president of the Maebashi-based Jomo Shimbun newspaper, is suspected of transferring the liabilities of his real estate firm, Kameyamasha, to a Jomo affiliate and of having the newspaper company jointly guarantee the debts from 1996 to 1997, constituting a breach of trust.
The sources said police have not yet searched Satori's home or the newspaper's head office, and that Satori has disappeared. atori, who served as president of the newspaper from 1991 to 1998, was also president of the subsidiary. The Jomo Shimbun has a daily circulation of about 300,000.
Kameyamasha, which was disbanded in 1999, failed to repay an 8 billion yen loan from trading house Kanematsu Corp. because a condominium complex it had built in the hot spring resort of Kusatsu suffered from poor sales.
Satori also is accused of damaging the newspaper company's finances by having it jointly guarantee the debts, as he allegedly did not consult with the newspaper's board of directors before listing Jomo as a joint guarantor.
He is suspected of submitting fabricated records of its board meetings to Kanematsu. Kanematsu filed a suit against the Jomo Shimbun and other parties in January.