Boss of bankrupt Japanese travel agency pleads guilty to fraud charges
The president of a Tokyo-based travel agency which went bust last year has pleaded guilty to serious fraud offences.
Chikako Yamada apologised and admitted the charges of defrauding two banks of more than 550 million yen ($5 million) during the first day of a criminal trial.
Chikako was head of Tellmeclub when it went bankrupt last year with debts of about 15.1 billion yen, leaving scores of travellers in the lurch.
"The allegations are all correct. I’m very sorry," Yamada said.
Prosecutors say the company supplied false accounts data to secure bank loans and win a contract as an airline’s official general sales agent.
Yamada and colleague Toshiyuki Sasai are accused of fraudulently obtaining 394 million yen from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and 150 million yen from Higashi-Nippon Bank.
Yamada also allegedly failed to declare around 10 million yen in pay after filing for personal bankruptcy last year.
The agency abruptly closed down with huge debts despite taking about 9.9 billion yen in advance payments from thousands of customers.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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