OSAKA -- Police searched on Friday the offices of an Osaka financial company suspected of improperly collecting at least 3 billion yen loaned by its affiliates to the elderly at illegal interest rates.
Osaka Prefectural Police searched the head office of Swiss Private Fund (SPF) in Kita Ward, Osaka, and about 30 other related offices and companies in seven prefectures in connection with suspected investment law violations, police said.
The firm, which said it is Swiss-based, is believed to have solicited investments by saying it would place the funds in venture firms. Police believe it amassed money from several hundred people throughout Japan between June 2000 and last July.