The Japan External Trade Organization said Saturday that a former director as well as four of its employees in Hong Kong obtained unlisted shares from a local firm and earned dividends on them.
The employees, including two officials on loan from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, received a total of about 500,000 yen in dividends from Techno Centre Ltd. from 2000 to 2003, JETRO said. The company runs an industrial park in Shenzhen, China, targeted mainly at Japanese companies.
Meanwhile, the 63-year-old former director has admitted to sending a $3,500 check to Jiro Ishii, Techno Centre's representative, after promising to make a donation when he was at JETRO between 1997 and 1998, JETRO officials said. He later learned from Ishii that the money was used to buy Techno Centre shares in his name.