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Sworn witness' testimony televised first time in 20 years

TOKYO, Japan - TV crew members tape a live broadcast of a meeting of the House of Councillors' Committee on Financial Affairs on Dec. 14. Kazuo Matsuda, president of Nichiei Co., testified before the committee as a sworn witness about intimidation tactics allegedly used by the company's employees to obtain loan repayments. It was the first live broadcast of a sworn witness' testimony before a Diet committee in 20 years.

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Diet begins questioning chief of moneylender Nichiei

TOKYO, Japan - Nichiei Co. President Kazuo Matsuda, summoned to appear before the House of Councillors' Committee on Financial Affairs as a sworn witness, enters the committee meeting room on Dec. 14. The committee questioned the head of the nonbank moneylender over whether the company instructed its employees to use aggressive, sometimes unlawful, loan collection methods.

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Police raid Nichiei's head office over threat allegations

KYOTO, Japan - Police officers enter the head office of loan company Nichiei Co. in Kyoto on Dec. 8 on suspicion that two former employees used threatening loan-collection tactics in October. Police also raided a Nichiei office in Osaka. A Japanese law on money lending prohibits the use of threats to collect loans.

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Nonbank moneylender bosses testify in Diet

TOKYO, Japan - Kenshin Oshima (L), president of Shohkoh Fund and Co., and Kazuo Matsuda (R), president of Nichiei Co., wait in a Diet room Nov. 11. They have been called to testify before the House of Councillors committee on fiscal and financial system affairs. Both finance companies that specializes in loans to small companies at high interest rates are at the center of a scandal over its loan collection methods.

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Regulators question head of lender suspected of gouging

KYOTO, Japan - The photo shows the head office of Nichiei Co., Japan's biggest finance company specializing in collateral-free, guaranteed loans to small companies. The Financial Supervisory Agency and the Finance Ministry's Kinki Regional Finance Bureau on Nov. 2 question Nichiei President Kazuo Matsuda over allegations the company has strong-arm tactics to recover bad loans. Matsuda denied the allegations, sources close to the case said.

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Nichiei president to resign, son to take over

OSAKA, Japan - Kazuo Matsuda (R), 77, who has decided to resign as president of Nichiei Co., a nonbank moneylender at the center of a scandal over loan collection practices, and his son, Ryuichi (L), 47, who replaces his father, speak at a news conference in Osaka on Feb. 10.

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Moneylender Nichiei ordered to halt operations

OSAKA, Japan - Yasuto Omori, chief of the Finance Department at the Ministry of Finance's (MOF) Kinki Local Finance Bureau in Osaka, speaks at a press conference Jan. 27 on a decision ordering nonbank moneylender Nichiei Co. to suspend its operations for one week from Feb. 7. Kyoto-based Nichiei has been involved in a scandal over coercive loan collecting.

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FSA to order moneylender Nichiei to suspend operations

OSAKA, Japan - A file photo shows the head office in Kyoto of Nichiei Co., the nonbank moneylender at the center of a scandal over loan collection methods. Financial authorities were reported Jan. 19 considering order the company to suspend part of its operations for up to one year.

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