Mizuho Bank announced Monday that it will punish 54 present and former executives for lending money to organized crime groups via consumer lender Orient Corp.
The bank also announced preventive measures, including the appointment of a former Supreme Court justice as an outside director and a new committee on yakuza matters headed by President Yasuhiro Sato — as part of a business improvement plan submitted to the Financial Services Agency the same day.
But Sato denied the mega-bank tried to cover up mob loans or that its officials colluded with yakuza.