Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday arrested the former chairman of Duskin Co. on suspicion of misusing some 180 million yen of the company's money to help an ailing firm run by a friend.
Koji Chiba, 63, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated breach of trust along with two others, Shuichi Shibahara, 62, a former senior managing director of Duskin, and Kunio Ito, 58, Chiba's longtime friend and former president of Osaka-based design firm Spice.
Investigators suspect that Chiba and Shibahara provided the money to Ito, whose company was having financial difficulties, concealed as a design contract between 1999 and 2001, even though the company did not provide any services to Duskin.