E-mails sent by former Livedoor Co. director Fumito Okamoto indicate he consulted with Takafumi Horie, who was president of the company until Jan. 24, before ordering senior Livedoor group employees to commit accounting fraud by saying he was '99.9 percent' sure it would not come to light.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>Four e-mails were written, copies of which were obtained by Kyodo News -- three by Okamoto and another by a senior employee of the company. They were sent between Dec. 29, 2003, and Nov. 6, 2004.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>Investigative sources said the special investigative squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office believes the e-mails add weight to suspicions that both Okamoto and Horie knew that a string of deals involving ValueClick Japan Inc. and an investment fund controlled by Livedoor called VLMA No. 2 investment union were illegal.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>ValueClick Japan Inc. is now a Livedoor affiliate and was renamed Livedoor Marketing Co.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>In late 2004, Okamoto became president of ValueClick Japan, which released a statement on Oct. 25, 2004, saying it would acquire publisher Money Life Inc. via a stock swap deal, although the publisher had already allegedly been purchased by the fund. This would allow it to engage in stock price manipulation.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>Okamoto, Horie and two other former group executives were arrested on Jan. 23 on suspicion of disseminating false information, misleading investors and manipulating ValueClick Japan's stock price in violation of the Securities and Exchange Law.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>In the alleged fraud, the Livedoor group handed over new ValueClick shares to the investment fund in exchange for shares of the Tokyo-based publisher of a financial magazine.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>The fund then transferred back to Livedoor profits from the sale of ValueClick shares to investors.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>Livedoor allegedly invested in the fund via two other investment unions. The profits from the ValueClick share sales are believed to have been transferred back to Livedoor through VLMA No. 2 and the other investment funds, called the EFC investment union and M&A Challenger No. 1 investment union.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>EFC was funded by Livedoor and Livedoor Finance Co., while EFC invested in Challenger No. 1, which in turn invested in VLMA No. 2.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>The managing partner of the Challenger investment union is H.S. Investment, an affiliate of H.S. Securities Co., whose vice president was Hideaki Noguchi, 38, a member of the Livedoor Finance Co. board who committed suicide two days after Livedoor's head office was raided on Jan. 16.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>The publisher's takeover by the Livedoor group had the purported aim of generating profits through the fund's sales of ValueClick Japan shares, which ValueClick issued after the takeover.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>An e-mail dated Nov. 6, 2004, showed Okamoto tried to ease the group's senior employees' concerns over the planned illicit deals.</PARAGRAPH>
<PARAGRAPH>'As a result of conversations with President Horie, I have come to realize that –
risks involved in the deals will be small, contrary to my initial expectations.
"I have gotten the impression the deals will, with 99.9 percent certainty, not become public knowledge, as Livedoor has invested in the fund via five or so other funds at home and overseas, as well as through individuals."
As for the Livedoor group's plan to have the fund make profits before remitting them to Livedoor, the e-mail said, "It is because Livedoor has used this technique that it has attained its current standing.
"There is no alternative but to use this type of technique," Okamoto wrote, "in order for our small IPO (initial public offering) company, which is without power, to carry on competing" with rival companies.
