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Monday June 5, 8:21 AMFund mogul Murakami, 3 execs may be arrested after questioning(Kyodo) _ Investment fund mogul Yoshiaki Murakami and three executives at his fund are expected to be arrested as early as Monday on suspicion of insider stock trading after questioning by prosecutors, investigative sources said.The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office will question the four Murakami Fund officials Monday and arrest them later in the day if there are no objections in final talks with the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office, the sources said. The Tokyo prosecutors' office suspects the Murakami Fund was involved in insider trading, prohibited under the Securities and Exchange Law, in connection with purchases of shares in radio firm Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. from late 2004 to early 2005, the sources said. Murakami, a government official-turned investor, denied the allegations when investigators of the Tokyo prosecutors' office questioned him earlier, the sources said. The Murakami Fund acquired a large quantity of Nippon Broadcasting shares before Livedoor Co. -- now accused of accounting fraud --and Fuji Television Network Inc. launched a high-profile takeover battle last year for the radio firm. The Tokyo prosecutors' office believes Murakami, 46, obtained advanced knowledge that the Internet conglomerate would buy up Nippon Broadcasting shares in its takeover attempt and later made huge profits from selling most of its stake in the radio firm, they said. As of Oct. 1, 2004, the fund held 3.94 million Nippon Broadcasting shares, or a 12 percent stake, according to the fund's mandatory reports to the Finance Ministry and the sources. The fund then went on buying the shares almost daily, with the number of its holdings of Nippon Broadcasting shares as of Dec. 31, 2004, rising to 5.28 million shares, or 16 percent of its outstanding shares, the reports show. The stake came to 18.57 percent as of Jan. 5, 2005, when the Murakami Fund purchased 800,000 additional shares, according to the reports. During the period of a little more than three months, Murakami recommended to then Livedoor President Takafumi Horie, a friend of his, that Livedoor join the Murakami Fund in snapping up Nippon Broadcasting shares, saying, "Let's buy together," according to the sources. Fuji TV launched a public tender offer Jan. 17 in a bid to make Nippon Broadcasting a subsidiary. On Feb. 8, Livedoor said it had obtained a Nippon Broadcasting stake of some 35 percent, including a 29.63 percent stake it had acquired that day in off-hours trading following its board's decision. The Murakami Fund turned a large profit from sales of the Nippon Broadcasting shares by the end of February 2005. The fund's stake in the radio broadcaster dived to 3.44 percent by Feb. 28, 2005. The Securities and Exchange Law prohibits those who have knowledge about a decision by a company's board from purchasing to buy a stake of 5 percent or more in a listed firm before the decision is made public. Murakami has told the investigators that he was unaware that Livedoor intended to buy a Nippon Broadcasting stake of 5 percent or more, according to the sources. The Murakami Fund has recently transferred the base of its operations to Singapore, setting up a new investment firm there. Murakami returned to Japan on May 31. |
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