The hiding of wealth: organised crime in Japan
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790310808592 |
| Date | 01 January 2003 |
| Pages | 63-68 |
| Published date | 01 January 2003 |
| Author | Takeyoshi Imai |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
The Hiding of Wealth: Organised Crime in Japan
Takeyoshi Imai
THE GENERAL SITUATION
The hiding of wealth in connection with organised
crimes is common in Asian countries such as China,
South Korea, Thailand etc. In Japan, this type of
wrongdoing could constitute the following oences:
®rst, oences related to tax evasion, secondly, money
laundering and thirdly, oences in the face of
compulsory seizure of goods by baili or bankruptcy.
An overview of these oences will be helpful in
understanding the more detailed analyses below.
1
The number of oences related to tax evasion is
closely connected with the economic conditions of
a society. In Japan, the speci®c relationship between
such oences and the crime organisations known as
Boryokudan or Yakuza certainly exist. But no recent
data that mainly focus on this relationship is available
at the moment. However, the situation as to tax eva-
sion by corporations is similar to that of criminal
organisations. The number of people charged with
violations of corporate tax law has increased since
1955 and hit a record high in 1993. This may have
been the result of the peak of the so-called Bubble
Economy. But after that, as the economic activities
of corporations stagnated, the number has decreased
(see Table 1).
On the other hand, the number of oences related
to compulsory seizure of goods by baili has been
dramatically increasing following the collapse of the
Bubble Economy, especially since 1994. Moreover,
the number of suspicious cases in which money laun-
dering may be included has also been increasing since
that time. Such a situation could be the result of stric-
ter regulations on them.
2
This being the case, it would seem appropriate to
report the situation in Japan concerning money laun-
dering as well as oences concerned with compulsory
seizure of goods by baili or bankruptcy.
MONEY LAUNDERING
It would seem appropriate to examine money
laundering ®rst, since this oence seems to be more
common for all of us than oences concerning
compulsory seizure of goods by baili or bankruptcy.
Background
In Japan, money laundering is penalised under s. 6 of
the Narcotics Special Law
3
as well as under s. 10 of
the Organised Crime Countermeasures Law.
4
The Narcotics Special Law was enacted in 1991 to
Page 63
Journal of Financial Crime Ð Vol. 10 No. 1
Journal of Financial Crime
Vol.10, No. 1, 2002, pp. 63 ±68
#HenryStewart Publications
ISSN 1359-0790
Table 1: Number of cases related to tax oences in 1999
General Sum or number
Amount of tax evasion including additional tax 316 hundred million yen
Amount of tax evasion charged by the National Tax Administration Agency 286 hundred million yen
Average amount of tax evasion in a charged case 1.9 hundred million yen
Violation of corporate tax law Sum or number
Number of people suspicious of having committed oences related to corporate tax law 216 people
Average amount of tax evasion in a charged case 1.6 hundred million yen
Violation of income tax law Sum or number
Number of people suspicious of having committed oences related to income tax law 71 people
Average amount of tax evasion in a charged case 2.1 hundred million yen
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