Hiroo Mizushima, former chairman of failed department store chain Sogo Co., pleaded not guilty Wednesday before the Tokyo District Court to charges of concealing assets to avoid their seizure by creditors.
While Mizushima, 89, acknowledged at the opening of his trial that he withdrew 155 million yen from his wife's account around July 2000, he said he did so because he had lost his source of income the previous month. Consequently, he claimed, there was no intention to prevent the legal seizure of the money.
Mizushima personally guaranteed 110 million yen in loans from the Industrial Bank of Japan that was used to open a branch store in Koto Ward, Tokyo, in September 1995, prosecutors said.