Complaint Filed Against Yamaichi Execs

Japan’s securities watchdog said it’s seeking an indictment against Yamaichi Securities Co. and five former Yamaichi directors in connection with illegal payments to a corporate racketeer. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, which regulates the securities industry, also said it’s seeking an indictment against Ryuichi Koike, the racketeer. Koike is already charged with extorting $3.1 million from Nomura Securities Co. and obtaining a quarter of a billion dollars in improper loans from Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd. The SESC said the former executives of Yamaichi, Japan’s fourth-largest brokerage, admitted making payments to Koike. Yamaichi is the second Japanese securities company, following Nomura, to be charged with making illegal payments to Koike. The Japanese press has reported for months that Daiwa Securities Co. and Nikko Securities Co., the other two of Japan’s Big Four brokerages, also paid off Koike and that raids are imminent. The breadth of the scandal and the huge amount of loans from the bank, at least a quarter of which aren’t recoverable, make this Japan’s biggest such scandal.