Japanese tycoon held over wiretap
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Takei founded Takefuji in 1966.
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(CNN) -- Police have arrested one of Japan's richest men, Takefuji Corp. Chairman Yasuo Takei, for allegedly ordering employees to tap the phone of a journalist.
Takei, whose family fortune is worth about $6 billion, started Takefuji in 1966. It is now Japan's biggest consumer loan company and posted a group net profit of 95 billion yen ($830 million) in the year to March 2003.
Kyodo news agency reported police arrested Takei, 73, on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Telecommunications Business Law by tapping the phone of freelance journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka, 44, between December 2000 and February 2001.
They also searched about 40 places, including Takei's home and company headquarters in Tokyo.
Former Takefuji employee Kazuhiro Nakagawa, 42, who received a suspended prison sentence for attempting to blackmail his former firm, told a court in June that he had handled the wiretapping under orders from Takei, Kyodo reported.
Takei has denied the allegation, police sources said.
A statement issued by Takefuji on Tuesday said Takei's arrest "has come as a complete surprise to us" and the company was united in wanting to see the "full truth of this matter made clear as soon as possible."
Shares in the company are sharply lower Wednesday, down 11.7 percent to 5400 yen.
Takefuji President Akira Kiyokawa told a press conference that the arrest ''came like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.''
''We intend to cooperate fully with investigations and hope that the truth will be revealed as soon as possible. I would like to express my deep apologies for causing great concern among shareholders, investors and clients,'' Kiyokawa said.
Kiyokawa said he gave instructions immediately after learning about Takei's arrest to halt all of the company's advertisements, Kyodo reported.
Japan's highly profitable consumer finance industry has been working to shake off its old image as a loan-sharking business in which interest rates were sky-high and debt defaulters ran the risk of physical harm.
Companies like Takefuji, Promise, Acom and Aiful have adopted bank-like ATMs, smart offices and the latest technology to attract consumers in search of unsecured loans.
Takefuji, which has 1900 offices nationwide, has been regarded as the leader in overhauling the industry's image.
The Takei family owns more than 70 percent of Takefuji, a stake worth 630 billion yen (about $5.8 billion). Takei's second son Taketeru is seen as the most likely successor, after elder son Toshiki quit the business in June 2001 for health reasons.
Kyodo reported that police searched Takefuji's headquarters on November 14 and arrested Nakagawa and Kunio Kotaki, 61, a former Takefuji senior managing director, as well as three employees of a detective agency in connection with the wiretapping.
The incident surfaced in October last year after Yamaoka wrote about the alleged wiretapping in a monthly magazine. Yamaoka filed a criminal complaint with police against Takei in June this year.
In August, Takefuji filed a defamation suit against Yamaoka and the publisher of the magazine seeking 17.5 million yen in compensation.
Yamaoka and the publisher filed a 30 million yen damages suit on Wednesday last week against Takefuji, claiming it invaded their privacy by wiretapping the journalist's telephones, after police arrested Nakagawa and others.
Nakagawa said in court that the company had wiretapped five other journalists and former employees who had criticized the company.
