Kyodo News
Disgraced former security agency chief Shigetake Ogata and two others were indicated Wednesday for defrauding the pro-Pyongyang Korean residents group Chongryun out of the ownership of the group's headquarters building and associated land, investigative sources said.
The three are also expected to be served with fresh arrest warrants for their alleged involvement in defrauding Chongryun, or the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, of 484 million yen.
Ogata, 73, is a former head of the government's Public Security Intelligence Agency.
Tadao Mitsui, 73, a former realtor who was arrested by Tokyo prosecutors along with Ogata, has told investigators that he informed Ogata of the payment shortly after receiving the 484 million yen from Chongryun in April. Mitsui had initially denied telling Ogata, the sources said.
The cash was divided between the two and Koji Kawae, a former bank official also arrested with Ogata. Mitsui allegedly handed 100 million yen to Ogata, they said.
Ogata has argued that he did not learn that the money was from Chongryun until June 11. That is the date he claims he was first informed by Chongryun that the payment had been made and that the 100 million yen derived from a different business transaction.
Ogata repaid the sum last Friday along with 50 million yen for causing trouble, claiming it was only after investigating the matter that he had learned that the money had come from Chongryun.
Ex-intelligence chief Ogata served fresh warrant over Chongryon deal
TOKYO, July 18 KYODO
Disgraced former intelligence chief Shigetake Ogata was served with a fresh arrest warrant Wednesday for his alleged involvement in defrauding pro-Pyongyang Korean residents group Chongryon of 484 million yen.
Tadao Mitsui, 73, a former realtor who was arrested by Tokyo prosecutors along with Ogata, was also served with a new warrant on the same charge.
Tokyo police drew protests from North Korean residents of Tokyo when they searched the Bunkyo-ku headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, in the course of an investigation into a Korean woman’s attempts to smuggle intravenous solutions to North Korea.
One of the woman’s relatives is believed to be a member of Kakyo, a group afiliated with Chongryon that promotes scientific and technological research exchanges among North Koreans in Japan.
Kakyo entered the spotlight on Wednesday, when one of its members, a 74-year-old former executive of Taiho Sangyo, an employment agency, along with a current executive, had their homes searched by Kanagawa police in connection with suspected illegal dispatches of employees.
Employees were dispatched to an electronics and machinery company in Ota, Gunma in June 2004, where they are believed to have been involved in plans to smuggle manufacturing technologies to North Korea. The employees were dispatched without proper notification or permission from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, in violation of the workers dispatch law.
The sanctions against North Korea, imposed October 14th, have not been airtight, though, with it having been discovered that materials exported from Japan were used to fabricate electromagnetic denoising coils under a pre-sanctions agreement, and were then exported to Japan, in violation of the sanctions.
No comments:
Post a Comment