A senior managing director of leading Japanese consumer credit firm Nippon Shinpan Co. was arrested Saturday with seven other people for allegedly paying off a former racketeer.

Police also arrested the 60-year-old racketeer, who is from Tokyo's Suginami Ward. He is now an executive of a clothing rental firm.

The money is said to have been handed over to ensure that the company's general shareholders' meetings proceeded smoothly.

Yoshihisa Oshio, 62, Nippon Shinpan's senior managing director, and the seven others are suspected of remitting a total of 28.35 million yen to the former racketeer's bank account between late November 1999 and late September this year, according to police.

Police suspect that Nippon Shinpan has remitted a total of nearly 80 million yen to the former racketeer in monthly payments since December 1991.

The payments were made in violation of the Commercial Code.