Fujitsu Investigated Over Sacked President

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

From the WSJ:

Mr. Nozoe, who served as Fujitsu's president for 15 months, has asked that his resignation be rescinded because, he said, he was misled with false information from the company that a long-time associate was tied to "antisocial forces" that could cause Fujitsu to be delisted, according to Kei Hata, Mr. Nozoe's lawyer. In Japan, "antisocial forces" is a well-known euphemism for organized crime. Mr. Hata said he conducted an investigation into the background of Mr. Nozoe's acquaintance and found no evidence of connections to organized crime.

[TennoChinko]

Which organized crime group? Yamaguchi, Inagawa, Sumiyoshi ... or the DPJ?

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Fujitsu ex-head to sue over resignation

Kuniaki Nozoe, former president of Fujitsu Ltd., will file a shareholders' representative suit against two executives who were involved in his resignation last year, he announced Wednesday. Nozoe said he would seek compensation for about 5 billion yen in damages he alleged the company incurred after he was forced to resign. Nozoe sent a written demand dated March 29 asking Fujitsu to file suit against the two executives over the alleged losses. Nozoe said in the demand that his resignation delayed the sale of a subsidiary, major Internet service provider Nifty Corp., inflicting damage of 5 billion yen on Fujitsu. If Fujitsu does not file the suit within 60 days, Nozoe said he would file a shareholders' representative suit for damages against the two executives as proxy of the company, seeking to assign responsibility for the executives' management lapses, a necessary step in a shareholders' representatives suit.

Fujitsu officials said the firm would make a decision on Nozoe's requests at its auditors' meeting. The company maintains no damage resulted from the sale of the Nifty subsidiary, since the transaction has not been decided. According to observers, it is very likely Fujitsu will not comply with Nozoe's written demand.

When Nozoe resigned as Fujitsu president in September, the company's official explanation was he did so "for health reasons." In February this year, Nozoe asked Fujitsu to rescind his resignation as he was "forced out due to false allegations." Last month, Fujitsu dismissed Nozoe, who then held the post of adviser, saying that his relationship of trust with the company was in tatters. In a rare move, the company acknowledged that Nozoe's resignation was not due to health factors, but because he had links with a firm Fujitsu considered to have an unfavorable reputation.

Fujitsu explained last month that it around February last year a company represented by a close friend of Nozoe for many years was connected with some programs Nozoe was then involved in. As there were unfavorable rumors surrounding the company, Fujitsu advised Nozoe to cut the relationship with the other company in light of Fujitsu's code of conduct. However, because Fujitsu's advice was ignored, the company asked Nozoe in September to resign, according to the major electronics company. Fujitsu and Nozoe agreed to announce that he was resigning for health reasons, as Nozoe actually was sick at the time, the company said earlier.

[Mike Oxlong]

Which organized crime group? Yamaguchi, Inagawa, Sumiyoshi ... or the DPJ?

That reminds me of a cartoon I saw a little while ago...

[Taro Toporific]