Criminal Complaint Filed against Suruga Bank Workers

May 23, 2018

Tokyo- A group of share-house owners on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint against Suruga Bank workers, alleging their involvement in document forgery related to loans in an investment scheme for such houses.

According to the complaint, a total of 33 people, including Suruga Bank employees and share-house service firm workers, padded annual incomes and savings of 35 borrowers on loan documents between September 2014 and November 2017 to let them pass loan screenings.

Attorneys of the group submitted the complaint to Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department.

The bank said on May 15 that its in-house probe found that many workers may have recognized the fabrication of loan documents.

The bank left the question of whether any workers were directly involved in the fabrication to investigations by a third-party panel, while denying organized involvement.

In the investment scheme, Suruga Bank provided investors with loans to buy share houses, which were leased to Smart Days Inc. for management. Smart Days promised to make payments to investors as rents.

Due to low occupancy, however, the Tokyo-based share-house operator stopped its payments, causing many owners to face difficulty repaying their loans. The company went bankrupt last month. Jiji Press