Ex-condo director admits embezzling ¥1.2 billion
The Japan News
23 November 2015

The Twin Tower Ishiuchi, a condominium complex at the center of an embezzlement case, is seen in Minami-Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture. The slope in front becomes a skiing area in winter.

NIIGATA — A former director of the residents association at a large resort condominium complex in Minami-Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, is suspected of embezzling a total of ¥1.18 billion over 16 years from a fund meant for administrative and maintenance costs.

The 68-year-old former director has confessed to the allegations, saying he spent the money on personal investments, according to members of the association at the 576-unit Twin Tower Ishiuchi.

The association lodged a criminal complaint against the former director with the Metropolitan Police Department in January on suspicion he embezzled ¥400 million, the portion of the misappropriated amount on which the statute of limitations has not expired.

Built in 1990, the complex consists of two buildings — a 19-story structure and a 12-story one. It is said to be popular among ski enthusiasts in the metropolitan area for its convenient location next to a skiing area and is just a roughly 10-minute car ride from the JR Echigo-Yuzawa Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen line.

According to the association’s members, the former director is a certified public accountant who assumed the post in 1999. He voluntarily told the association he embezzled funds last November, members said, and was subsequently dismissed from his position the same month.

The association investigated the former director’s claims and found he misappropriated about ¥1.18 billion over about 16 years from the association’s fund, which consists of fees paid by residents and is intended to go toward maintenance and repair costs. The former director used the association’s seal and account book to siphon money out of the association’s bank account into his own securities account and bank account, and withdrew cash.

The years of embezzling went undetected until the man voluntarily confessed after he submitted a financial report with falsified certificates of outstanding balances to an annual plenary meeting of the association, members said.

the balance was almost zero

He had posted fictional expenses, according to members, but ¥700 million should still have been in the association’s account as of November last year. However, the balance was almost zero, they said. The former director allegedly spent the embezzled money on personal investments like stocks.

“I initially intended to just temporarily borrow the money, put it into investments and make profits,” the former director was quoted by the association as saying. “But I couldn’t pay the money back because of my failed investments and the losses kept swelling.”

Condo residents pay monthly fees ranging from tens of thousands of yen to more than ¥100,000 per unit, which go toward maintenance and management costs.

“I’m worried about whether the buildings can be repaired in the future,” said a man in Tokyo who owns a unit.

was trusted ... because he’s a certified public accountant

Lawyer Akihiko Nishigomi, a representative of the association, said the former director “was trusted by association members because he’s a certified public accountant who showed no signs he was pressed for money.”

“All the association’s members are angry because they feel betrayed by the former director,” Nishigomi said.

The former director did not respond to requests for an interview.Speech

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