"I would like to offer my apologies for causing
trouble to many people by abusing the program," Mitsuru Asada, former
chairman of Hannan Corp., told the Osaka District Court at the opening
session of his trial.
Asada, considered the don of the meatpacking
industry, admitted to conspiring with others to falsely label beef to
qualify for government subsidies, which were introduced after the
domestic outbreak of mad cow disease in September 2001. He also
pleaded guilty to attempting to hide evidence.
He entered his plea reading from a paper given to
him by his lawyer.
Asada, 65, is one of 26 people charged in a series
of crimes stemming from abuses of the beef-buyback plan. Eleven of
them -- all from the meat industry in the Kansai region -- appeared in
court alongside Asada, and all pleaded guilty.
According to prosecutors, Asada defrauded the
government out of 5.03 billion yen from November 2001 through May 2002
by falsely labeling imported beef as domestic so he could receive
money for it from the government.
Prosecutors said Asada made 1.34 billion yen out of
the scam.
Asada contacted the Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries in October 2001 asking for state aid to ease
the losses he sustained from from plummeting beef sales after the
discovery of the nation's first case of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy.
He used his political contacts to gather information
on the government program to help BSE-affected dealers.
He had told investigators that he received a
briefing on the buyback plan "from farm ministry bureaucrats." The
ministry has denied providing favors to Asada.
Asada then falsely labeled imported beef and ordered
his group companies to procure imported beef, according to the
prosecutors.
He applied for subsidies on some 1,700 tons of beef
purchased through an Osaka prefectural meat cooperative federation,
which he controlled, and through the All Japan Meat Industry
Cooperative Association. Of the total amount, 434 tons were imported
or were types not covered by the program.
Asada's lawyers are arguing that the charges against
their client should refer only to the beef that did not qualify for
the program.
Seven of nine others who have already appeared in
court have also pleaded guilty.
Asada is charged with fraudulently obtaining about a
quarter of the 21 billion yen in BSE-related subsidies that the
government has paid out.
Of the more than 1 billion yen in profit that he
allegedly earned from the scam, Asada was earlier quoted by
investigators as saying: "Part of the money was spent on supplying
operational funds to group companies and loans to firms run by
friends. With some of the money, I don't recall how I spent it."
Osaka prosecutors and police have been trying in
vain to discover where the unaccounted-for money went.
The application process for the buyback plan
required only proof of inventory issued by storage companies,
resulting in several cases of fraud, including one involving Snow
Brand Foods Co. and another with a subsidiary of Nippon Meat Packers
Inc.
The Japan Times: Aug. 21, 2004
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