5 arrested in connection with tax evasion over Canon plants+

TOKYO, Feb. 9 Kyodo -
Public prosecutors arrested five people on Monday for their involvement in
alleged tax evasion worth 292 million yen by a business consultant firm in Oita
Prefecture over the construction of Canon Inc. plants.
The five included Hideo Namba, 61, president of Osaka-based Naniwa Consultants
International Co.
Earlier in the day, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office obtained an
arrest warrant for Norihisa Oga, 65, president of the Oita-based consultant
firm Daiko, which is at the center of the suspected tax evasion case.
The office plans to arrest Oga soon, investigative sources said.
Oga has connections with Canon Chairman Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan
Business Federation, the nation's most powerful business lobby known as Nippon
Keidanren, industry sources said.
According to the investigations, a Daiko group firm allegedly evaded corporate
taxes totaling 292 million yen by concealing 976 million yen in income,
including the money the company received as intermediate commissions from
Kajima Corp. for projects to construct Canon plants in Oita Prefecture.
The arrested five were allegedly involved in the tax evasion case.
The money Kajima paid to the Daiko group firm is believed to be part of
off-the-book cash that Kajima generated through projects it contracted with
Canon.
According to investigations by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, Kajima
allegedly concealed 600 million yen in income in the two years through March
2006 by logging fictitious charges to subcontractors undertaking the Canon
plant construction projects.
==Kyodo
2009-02-09 23:46:35