The Japan Skating Federation plans to file civil and criminal charges against its former president for suspected embezzlement, acting federation president Yasuakira Hayashi said Wednesday.
Hayashi said that suspicions have increased that former president Katsuichiro Hisanaga embezzled the federation's funds during his tenure to a degree that the JSF "has little choice but to bring the case to court."
The JSF revealed that there were unspecified expenditures of about 5.8 million yen related to a figure skating exhibition event held in 1999 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games.
The JSF also said that room rent paid during preparations for the 2002 world championships in Nagano was channeled into a company run by Hisanaga. The JSF admitted that Hisanaga was involved in both cases.
Late last month, the JSF said eight members of the JSF executive committee will resign at the end of June over their alleged involvement in the questionable handling of business operations for staging international figure skating events.
The decision came a month after the revelation that the JSF incurred a massive loss in its assets over six years through fiscal 2004 caused by inappropriate management of the international business department.
Hisanaga, who quit his post in June 2004, is widely believed to have played a core role in such fraudulent operations.
An extraordinary executive committee meeting held Wednesday confirmed that all the eight outgoing members will never be allowed to rejoin the committee.
The JSF has investigated the matter since it surfaced weeks after Shizuka Arakawa became the first Japanese figure skater to win an Olympic gold medal at the Turin Games in February.