crime

Mizuho says top managers knew of loans to gangsters

22 Comments

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I won't hold my breath for the government to dole out punishment.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Government = Gangsters = Corporations

Seriously, who is surprised at any of this?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

.... aaaaaaand nothing will come of it.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The gangsters should gather around and show their support for him by paying back their loans.

What were they doing with the money anyway, loan sharking it out at exorbitant rates to everyday citizens?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Japanese are usually stunned when they discover that their financial institutions are closely linked with the yakuza. But I am even more surprised when I know that the Japanese don't even know that the LDP government is even more closely related to the yakuza.

In fact, the LDP is a political party founded with the drug money of the godfather of Yakuza, Yoshio Kodama. Yoshio Kodama as a major founder of the LDP, was earlier a major leader of Japan's Black Dragon/ Dark Ocean Society and practiced criminal activities in China and Korea before and during WWII. One of the notorious crimes of the Black Dragon/ Black Ocean Society is the brutal killing of Empress Myeogseong, the last Korean Queen in her palace.

According to the Far Eastern Economic Review (December 3, 1992, pg 18), the Yakuza were even involved in the selection of prime ministers of Japan:

"Now new information released by the Tokyo District Prosecutors Office in connection with the Sagawa Kyubin scandal suggests that leaders of Japan's largest yakuza gangs were involved in the selection of Noboru Takeshita as prime minister in 1987. A former chief inspector in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department admits: "In the past politicians used the yakuza as bodyguards, but now yakuza have helped to decide on our prime minister.""

Even now, the family of the current Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe is also known to be closely linked to the Yakuza. Last year, a journalist even posted the picture of Shinzo Abe meeting with the Yakuza from Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's biggest yakuza organization in the media.

Shinzo Abe's grandfather, Nobusuki Kishi, a Class A war criminal was known to be a partner of the godfather of Yakuza, Yoshio Kodama. And he is known to be responsible for the re-emerging of the Yakuza.

"Kishi managed to help return to centre stage a whole galaxy of prewar rightists and yakuza allies. Among them were two symphonious, and notorious, names -- Ichiro Kono and Bamboku Ohno. Kono was a part of many major LDP decisions, including those to name Prime Minister Kishi and his successor, Eisaku Sato" (Yakuza, pg 82).

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Sato said he would not be stepping down from his role at the helm of the huge financial group, but would be giving up his role on the government’s council for industrial competitiveness. The Financial Services Agency last month admonished the bank for taking “no substantial steps” in dealing with the issue of loans to the mob after it was first discovered two years ago, and pointed to “serious problems” with its compliance monitoring.

You can tell when a regulator strikes fear into the heart of the entities that they are monitoring when they "admonish" a company for breaking some of the core rules of banking. Sato bears the burden so much that he gives up a key role in a group that no one (or not many) has ever heard of.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Do people not fall on their swords any more?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

They don't seem to grasp the severity of the situation.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Like always their not ashamed of what they have done, but are ashamed of getting caught.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

One of the reasons foreign firms don't want to invest in Japan is that things like the situation above are occurring. The FSA deals far more harshly with foreign firms than Japanese firms. This makes Japan an unfair playing field, and most firms won't want to deal with such nonsense.

A client firm of mine (which is American) had to prove that they were not dealing with "anti-social forces" directly, or indirectly. They had to investigate their customers and vendors, and stop doing business if any bad links were found. Then they had to submit all their documentation to the FSA. Apparently the FSA does not require that Japanese firms perform the same due-dillgemce.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

There are ordinances preventing, for example, restaurants from catering food to known yakuza offices/parties, or serving them in bars. In several reported cases this has led to problems (aside from loss of business) for the shop owners.

I would like to see the Mizuho execs punished just as a small shop-keeper would be.

But I'm not holding my breath waiting.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wait... they were loans TO Yakuza? I thought it was always the other way around? So does that mean that execs were able to go round to gang HQs and break things, rough the hoods up and then walk out as if nothing happened? It all sounds a bit weird.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This sounds like a subplot of the recent drama Hanzawa Naoki.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Wow this was exactly my comment the other day, I said the guy that was "removed" aka promoted was not a lone wolf.

Please punish the bank and the exe's!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Three years ago? When will the Japanese stop lying if at all possible? The Yakuza has been in existence since the samurai days and this relationship just started 3 years ago?? Would you belueve that the sun rises in the west? Unbelievable. But that has been what has been happening in Japan from day one of its existence????

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"I don't think I'm not responsible"..... Classic double negative there!!

Guess what that means Mr. Sato!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hanzawa Naoki stuff in real life! wwwwww

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

To be fair, if a bunch of Yaks turned up at a bank saying "Hello Mr Tanaka, nice day isn't it? Nice grandkids you've got there, shame if anything should happen to them, (we know where they live). How about a loan?"

Then what's Mr Tanaka supposed to do?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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