Police Launch Probe into Alleged SFCG Asset Concealment

Tokyo, June 16 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police launched Wednesday a full
probe into alleged concealment of assets of failed moneylender SFCG Co. by
the firm's former chairman and others.
The Metropolitan Police Department asked the former chairman,
Kenshin Oshima, 62, and several others to come to a police station
voluntarily for questioning in the morning.
Investigation sources said the Oshima group moved real estate loan
claims and other assets worth some 40 billion yen to a company run by
Oshima's relative before SFCG filed for court protection from creditors
under the civil rehabilitation law in February 2009.
SFCG's administrator also said Oshima and the others transferred
the company's assets with a total book value of 267 billion yen to
Oshima-related firms between September 2008 and February 2009.
Given those facts, the police department suspects that they knew
the bankruptcy was inevitable and tried to hide the assets in advance, in
violation of the law, the sources said.
Oshima had served as SFCG's president until shortly before the
firm's collapse.
Established as Shoko Fund Co. in 1978, SFCG aggressively lent money
to small and medium-sized companies, going public on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange's first section in 1999 and increasing the number of branches to
more than 100 across the country.
The company started using the current name in 2002 after strong-arm
methods to collect money drew harsh public criticism.
SFCG saw its earnings deteriorate due to the increased burden of
reimbursing overpaid interest after a regulatory change, and found it
difficult to raise funds amid the global financial crisis since autumn 2008.
In April 2009, Tokyo District Court ordered the company to give up
its rehabilitation effort and shift to the bankruptcy process.
Liabilities totaled around 290 billion yen as of the end of March.


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