AIJ president pleads guilty to pension fund fraud
TOKYO —
The president of AIJ Investment Advisers on Wednesday pleaded guilty to swindling 24.8 billion yen from 17 pension funds. Kazuhiko Asakawa, 60, president of AIJ Investment Advisers, and three of his associates were arrested earlier this year for fraud after the asset management company lost around 109.2 billion yen in pension fund money.
Prosecutors told the Tokyo District Court that Asakawa and the others conspired to defraud cash in the name of pension fund management and lied in June and July 2011 by saying the retirement assets had steadily risen in value when, in reality, they had tumbled, a police spokesman said.
Asakawa admitted that he inflated investment returns but denied that he tried to deceive clients. “I didn’t want to use inflated figures for the pension funds, but I did not want to come back with losses, no matter what,” he said. “I was confident of recouping the losses.”
AIJ’s operations were suspended in February in a scandal that has rocked Japan where a rapidly aging population is increasingly looking to private pension funds to help them through their retirement.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission said AIJ, which managed 145.8 billion yen in retirement funds, lost at least 109 billion yen in an alleged fraud that affected more than 880,000 policy holders.
Japan Today/AFP
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16 Comments
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5
paulinusa
"Asakawa admitted that he inflated investment returns but denied that he tried to deceive clients."
Billions lost. He tells clients assets rose steadily in value. But he didn't deceive anyone. Right.
10
hereforever
So what is his sentence? A seat on the Upper House?
3
papigiulio
109 billion lost, Onehundredninebillion. O_o
I hope they pay hard for what they did.
7
Weasel
Famous last words of a compulsive gambler.
3
tmarie
Take away all his savings, pension, house and give him no government assistance. Disgusting but surely no one is surprised at this in Japan. Companies here are worms and when will the government stop allowing them to get away with things like this? The government isn't going to be able to afford to look after all the people who have little to no money because of bad investments and being ripped off by such companies. Japan is rotten to the core when it comes to business ethics.
3
Impersonator
So, what's the sentence?
2
vctokyo
this is all about japan's obsession with not losing face. The AIJ guys didnt want to lose face to pensioners, instead he comitted fraud & came up with some delusional explanation he did not deceive & could double up on his bets. Sad indeed.
3
marcelito
Agree tmarie - but as we all know the government will never really crack down on them suficiently as the govt. bureaucrats who are supposed to oversee them are percisely the same one who will amakudari parachute into the board / management / consulting roles with the very same companies. You are correct -the whole system is rotten to the core , and with the LDP poised to retake government nothing will change.
-2
Disillusioned
Japan definitely doesn't have a good track record when t comes to pension funds. Even the government sponsored pension is in the crapper. The future does look very bleak for the Japanese. A rapidly aging society, a falling birth rate, an increasing 'forever single' population and no pensions. This place will become a land of broke, lonely and slightly crazed old people.
0
globalwatcher
What Japan needs today is a private pension fund protection similar to Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) of US to prevent something like this to happen again. Good luck.
0
Impersonator
So, he said he "lost" more than two thirds of the funds, and was still hoping to convert thirty-something billions into 150 billions once again... Had be just given a timeframe for that seemingly impossible feat and it would have been easier to judge this guy's mental state or sleaziness.
This specific case (the promises of double profit, the lies, the mismanagement, the fraud, the implications, the response of the law enforcers, the response of the government, the response of the population, the general attitude of this guy) should be taken as a case study by professionals, as this is presents a very worrying picture of the general state of affairs of this country. An enterprising journalist should dissect this case and report/inform the general public in Japanese. This is no joke, this is serious.
2
Ewan Huzarmy
Like most big business crooks here, he'll get ten bangs on the botty with a slipper and sent to bed without supper.
0
tmarie
Don't know about you guys but money is abroad. You'd have to be an idiot to sign up with any pension plans here or invest in Japan.
0
globalwatcher
tmarieDec. 06, 2012 - 12:53PM JST
Haven't seen the worst one yet. Abe.....He will make your pension worthless.
0
tmarie
Indeed - which is why I move money abroad. Do pay the damn pension here but only because I fear they'll hook it up to visas and the like.
0
JA_Cruise
So what will happen to all those 880,000 persons, just out their pensions? Wonder if the gov't is looking to reimburse them....
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