AIJ pension scandal shakes trust in system

All In Japan (AIJ) one of many financial scandals, happened in past and will happen in future also.

Asakawa told a Diet panel the money had disappeared in a string of risky bets on futures and options contracts between 2002 and 2011, but insisted he had not deceived clients since his plan included making the money back.

Typical Japanese business-man's logic/rationale and why foreign investors will never be comfortable investing there. The fraud goes back ten years, but the "plan" called for making the money back, so no reason to actually report real numbers.

I'm surprised the earthquake was not used as the full blame on this fraud. Seems to have been in every article about aij stealing clients money. They should be prosecuted, but as we've seen in recent articles it'll be just a suspended sentence at most.

God to these people actually believe themselves. I bet he paid himself a hefty bonus every year. And I am pretty sure he put everything he owns into some sort of trust so the people that he rip off have no chance of recovering anything. he is a lying maggot

but insisted he had not deceived clients since his plan included making the money back.

The Pachinko Syndrome

Scandals like this just further prove why not to trust others with one's hard-earned money, not bankers, and especially not politicians;scoundrels and thieves all.

MAY consider criminal charges??! MAY???!!! Why is this not an absolute dead cert and why is this guy not going to go down for years and years to ward off others from pulling the same sh*t?

Do these people not grasp the enormity of what they have done? Literally - hundreds of thousands of peoples lives have been ruined because of their greed and arrogance.

i lost my trust long ago. money buried in a can out in the veggie patch. now if i can only remember where i buried it. that would be about the same as entrusting my money to these thieves.

It looks like the article has disappeared. But I laughed when Edano said that Japan's corporate governance was on par with the US. Respect for this guy disappeared immediately after that comment.

I'm sure more of these financial scandals will emerge as the 22 year economic downturn forces the once wealthy corporations to bottom out and no longer be able to hide their selfish crimes.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/edano-says-japans-corporate-governance-on-par-with-u-s

That nobody who has lost money to this company, has done something to these scammers is absolutely beyond belief. These guys need to go down HARD.

May consider charges... ha! If they charge AIJ, shouldn't the government also be charging itself for "losing" all those pension numbers? Check you pension info folks. I got mine last week and it had errors in it. Showed I paid less. Make sure you keep your pay stubs for proof.

Personally, I would like this national pension done away with or redone. The Canadian system takes pension off everyone over a certain pay rate once you turn 18. None of this "hiding" from the system (cough, cough, former PM Koizumi) and the like. You have ONE number for everything (social insurance card) and everything is based on that one number. Easily done and easy to keep track.

I know all over the world, governments,politicians and companies are corrupt to some level but here, they seem to think it`s their god given right to swindle,con and steal off those actually working their little behinds off. Sod the younger generation who are really going to have it tough in following years.

"Breaks Trust in System".... love it. Its not 1968 or 1980 it is 2012. If the Japanese still had any trust in any government or private sector system then they deserved to be fleeced. The system lost any claim or right for "trust" a long time ago. Nomura, Yamaichi, Daiwa, and Nikko, were all found guilty of many financial crimes years ago. My feeling is that there is massive amount of financial crime that has not surfaced. What were the odds that Olympus, one of the very few companies run by a foreigner, was hiding losses and this particular honest foreigner enlightened everyone. Japan's future is not looking good.... payment is coming due and all the dirt will come flying out from under the tatami. It is going to hit the fan.

Pensions public & private have been shot to hell since at least around 20yrs ago!

Govt loses 50mil records, companies routinely UNDER report staff incomes to CUT there share of pension payments & some even negotiate with pension collectors to collect LESS than the faked income levels.

And this putz Ando is just pretending to be ticked off!

As worthington says above there is a HELL of a lot more of this that hasnt been exposed yet, the scale will be wa way way beyond collosal!

What's with the green ribbons these fellas are wearing? Do they support the use of Midorichan or is that an attempt to show they're not really bad by forking out a couple of hundred yen for a good cause. For a change that is. Well, what can you say about this. The pension money is gone, but at least the chief of this outfit has probably stashed away enough to retire on comfortably. They asked him how much his salary (= take) was and he replied "I think 70 million yen". Think? It might be this ingrained über politeness, but robbers are usually more straightforward. Who would invest money with a company of which the president isn't sure how much he earns? But that was not in the brochure I guess. Anyway, maybe he thought what is the big deal with a few million among billions. Just pocket change that fell by the wayside. Yes, the investors should have had some serious reservations about this claim of 240% returns on their investments. This has never worked. Well, only for the people that start these scams. On the other hand, this company was rewarded with awards of excellence. Based on what? Just their claim of being able to turn dust into gold? Unless they had these awards printed themselves, one must wonder on what merit they were awarded and by whom and then have them arrested as well.

I asked my husband about the green ribbons and he didn't have a clue either.

Japan spends millions of yen on fingerprinting machines and the like yet it is white collar crime by the locals that is ruining this country. Sadly, nothing being done about it. Democratic nations deserve the leaders they get....

It was widely reported that former employees of the defunct social security insurance agency were emplyed by them. Well that there should answer a lot of questions.

Japan is a dying nation without any light at the end of the tunnel. When the government schemed together with big corporations to scam its people, I dont see any hope left for its future. Nevertheless, at least Japanese only scammed their own people unlike US, scandals like Lehman, Refco, MF Global etc., fleeced the world to enrich its own country. Shame on you.

"Japan is a dying nation without any light at the end of the tunnel." @lincolnlklim: I don't think so but I do share your frustration. Japan has been through a lot and will withstand the fools in the government.

One side note: this "cherished" public/private pension system is less than 40 years old. It began in the late 70's although people would have you believe that pensions were handed out along with samurai swords. In other words, it is a new program that has failed on various levels and needs to be revamped into a system similar to what Nicky Washida refers to. Plenty of generations before the elderly of today took care of themselves without destroying future generations through the use of overbearing taxes that never seem to find their earmaked target or through legalized gambling that is AIJ and other such companies.

Asakawa told a Diet panel the money had disappeared in a string of risky bets on futures and options contracts between 2002 and 2011, but insisted he had not deceived clients since his plan included making the money back

My favourite quote of the day. I'd love to know what his plan was to make the money back? Use borrowed money to place even more bets on futures and options?

Pension funds are not supposed to be investing in risky assets... but if there was deregulation among these firms, then its the friggin wild west and anything goes with no checks and balances.

There should be a greater push for individuals to take charge of their own retirement savings. Geez, its not something that is even taught in schools, basic money management!

After most other developed countries, we are now in a period in which corporate Japan's dirty laundry is revealed. Greed one of men's most stubborn flaws.