Morikazu Tanaka,Guardian of the Underworld

Former Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office special investigation squad member Morikazu Tanaka, who recently received a three-year prison term for his involvement in a promissory note fraud, is facing further troubles of a financial nature due to investments he solicited for his geographic survey firm Terra Matrix Co., which later failed, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Saturday. <br />According to sources, Tanaka had raised several hundred million yen in exchange for issuance of the firm's stocks, promising investors that he would buy back the stocks if the firm failed to get listed on a stock exchange in the future. <br />However, the president of Terra Matrix said the firm had gone insolvent due to a shortage of funds. After stints on the Tokyo and Osaka District Public Prosecutors Offices' special investigation squads, Tanaka became a lawyer and represented a Yamaguchi-gumi gang leader. However, he was found guilty of swindling an oil wholesaler out of about 17.9 billion yen in promissory notes and sentenced to three years in prison on Feb. 28. He was disbarred as a lawyer and is expected to begin his jail term in the near future. Tanaka had published a best-selling autobiography, titled "Hanten--Yamishakai no Shugoshin to Yobarete," (Reversal--Called Guardian of the Underworld), in which he strongly criticized investigation policies and methods employed by prosecutors. Due to the financial problems afflicting Terra Matrix, a portion of the book royalties has been seized by one of the failed firm's investors. <br />According to Terra Matrix's president, the company was established in December 2000. Its main business was to create three-dimensional geographical data based on those collected from airplanes. It had planned to purchase the rights to use the technology for the business in Japan from a U.S. company at about 15 million dollars, or about 1.8 billion yen at the then exchange rate. Tanaka owned about 60 percent to 70 percent of Terra Matrix stocks, after purchasing them at the president's request in 2001. However, because Terra Matrix was only able to raise 8.3 million dollars, its office closed down in May 2005. <br />Around 2003, about 10 people from the Kansai and other regions each invested amounts ranging from 1 million yen to 5 million yen into the firm, for a total of about 20 million yen. When they were invited to invest in Terra Matrix, Tanaka showed them a company brochure, saying, "Its stocks are scheduled to become listed on a [Japanese] stock market in spring 2006." They also received a written pledge from Tanaka that he would buy back the stocks they purchased if the firm failed to get listed. <br />Because the firm's stock never became listed, some investors requested via certified mail that Tanaka fulfill his buyback pledge, but they did not received a reply. <br />The wife of Mamoru Mori, astronaut and director of the National Museum of Engineering Science and Innovation, served as a member of the firm's board for three months beginning in June 2001. After learning that a photograph of Mori dressed in a spacesuit and his words to recommend the firm were used in the firm's brochures without permission, his wife resigned and received no pay.

Morikazu Tanaka,Guardian of the Underworld

Former Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office special investigation squad member Morikazu Tanaka, who recently received a three-year priso...

Read more »