OSAKA -- Kansai Kogin, a failed local credit union whose former executives were arrested last week in a breach of trust case, pressured recipients of loans in the late 1990s to buy memberships of a golf course operated by an affiliate by threatening to withdraw the loans, sources close to the case said Saturday.
Employees of the credit union, which mainly served the South Korean community, pressured customers to buy memberships of the golf course, operated by Koma Kaihatsu, in the second half of the 1990s even though they knew the affiliate was on the brink of bankruptcy, the sources said.
Despite the coercive sales tactics, the golf-club operator continued to operate in the red, the sources said.