The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling ordering the former chairman of department store chain Sogo Co. to pay 12.8 billion yen to Mizuho Corporate Bank as guarantor for a loan extended to a Sogo outlet that turned sour.
Hiroo Mizushima, 92, signed a contract in September 1995 with Industrial Bank of Japan, which later merged to form Mizuho Corporate Bank, agreeing to act as a joint surety.
The contract, extended in 1999 and 2001, specifies that Mizushima personally guaranteed payment of up to 11 billion yen of the 13.6 billion yen loan extended by IBJ to Sogo's Kinshicho branch in Tokyo's Sumida Ward.