Battle against yakuza yielding results

It is no wonder a senior official of the National Police Agency said, "This was an epoch-making year in terms of measures against financial sources for organized crime groups." This year saw the widespread implementation of initiatives to exclude organized crime groups from various fields, such as stock markets, sporting circles and public works contract.

But the measures are just guides to prevent the flow of financial resources to criminal gangs. Ensuring the effectiveness of such systems and investigating illegal income or creating measures to follow up what has already been implemented are currently top agenda items.

At the first liaison conference between the agency and the Metropolitan Police Department held at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 8, agency Commissioner General Iwao Uruma, speaking before TSE executives, expressed his determination to rid the stock market from organized crime groups, saying, "Companies that have relations with antisocial powers must be dealt with appropriately."

Behind Uruma's strong attitude are palpable fears that many listed companies have been corrupted by such groups. Six years ago, links between the former president of an online music distribution company listed on the TSE's Mothers Market and an organized crime group were discovered. In May, the former president of a condominium sales company listed on the TSE's Second Section was arrested in a case involving an organized crime boss and illegal registries.

The aim of the conference was to help information exchange to prevent the yakuza from becoming too cozy with companies after companies go public and manipulating their stock prices. A senior official at the agency said, "It means a great deal that efforts have begun to exclude organized crime from fields where they could invest massive capital."

It has been rare until now for organizations in a range of industries to launch campaigns with police support to battle organized crime groups. But this year the central and local governments began concerted efforts to exclude them. One such campaign has been in the public works sector. The government set up a working team in July comprising ministry officials. The team announced a policy to exclude criminal gangs from all types of contracts, including those with principal contractors and subcontractors.

The team is making plans to exclude not only companies that organized crime groups manage directly, but also to cut off funds to the groups themselves and affiliated associations. The policy has already been introduced in construction work orders by all the regional development bureaus of the Construction and Transport Ministry. In May, a construction company in Yamanashi Prefecture that provided such groups with 5 million yen was punished and barred from participating.

This system has been introduced in local governments, and Osaka Prefecture in April decided to punish companies that have exclusively used subcontractors with yakuza connections. In August, a major general contractor was reprimanded when it was discovered it had signed with a subcontractor who was a golfing friend of a yakuza boss.

Ostracizing organized crime groups from public organizations has been late in coming compared with private sector efforts, as the government tried to remain evenhanded and not discriminate against residents and companies. But this year, since the government has confirmed it is targeting organized crime groups as a major tactic in fighting crime, many ministries moved to exclude these groups from receiving government welfare payments, bidding on national land purchases and other interactions with the government.

The NPA has become more active in disclosing information on organized crime groups. It has been more willing to disclose information on whether someone has been a member of such a group, if it is considered in the public interest, but the agency has dragged its feet when such information has been requested.

Since last year, the agency has taken the initiative in clarifying rules on information exchange, and the number of cases has shot up in which the police, without stating reasons, have requested the exclusion of organized crime groups from specified business dealings because the agency said investigations had discovered connections.

Major conflicts between organized crime groups were practically nonexistent this year, and the number of conspicuous illegal acts by such groups has plummeted. Yet the agency fear a backlash against the marginalization of such groups, as people will be lulled into a false sense of security over the dangers of organized crime groups.

The agency also aims to throw a wrench into the yakuza works to prevent them from becoming more finance-based, meaning their ways of obtaining funds would become more tricky and harder to trace.

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Climate of acceptance

A yakuza once said: "When there are problems, the police don't act right away, and it takes time and money to hire lawyers. So groups such as ours are needed."

It has been long noted that organized crime groups do not disappear because there are companies and citizens who profit from them or are willing to voluntarily offer support. Organized crime groups are creating systems to absorb massive profits by attacking society's soft spots. It is necessary to change the climate that accepts the existence of underground groups.

"Much of the money collected by organized crime groups will become capital for loan-sharking operations and for the purchase of drugs. That kind of money in turn creates crime and hurts society," a senior NPA official said. It is imperative to eliminate the financial resources of such groups as well as to seize illegally earned money.

The Law for Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds and Other Matters stipulates that illegal proceeds of prostitution and the selling of drugs and weapons may be confiscated as crime-related profits. However, the law is applicable to only to a limited number of criminal activities and fails to fully cover all organized crime.

The most realistic approach is to pin down an organized crime group with tax evasion charges, which can be connected to all illicit proceeds. But up to now, taxes have not properly been imposed on crime organizations.

Daily Yomiuri online, 20 Deceember 2006