Japan's Hazama Ando found to have under-reported income -reports
23/11/2019 06:04
TOKYO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Japanese tax authorities have
found construction company Hazama Ando Corp 1719.T
under-reported income for years by booking fraudulent costs,
media reports said on Saturday.
The reports, citing people familiar with tax authorities,
said the builder was found to have under-reported income by
around 250 million yen ($2.30 million) in the five years ended
March 2018.
"Tens of employees" asked subcontractors for inflated or
fictitious construction bills, and were repaid in cash once
payments were made, Asahi Shimbun reported. The employees then
used the cash for dining and other personal purposes, it said.
Calls to Hazama Ando's general number in Tokyo were not
answered on Saturday, although public broadcaster NHK said the
company confirmed that authorities found irregularities. Japan
tax officials were not immediately available for comment.
Fraud and accounting scandals have been recurring problems
among Japanese companies over the past several years, including
falsified books at Toshiba Corp 6502.T and data manipulation
by automakers.
($1 = 108.6400 yen)
(Reporting by Tokyo Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
((Ritsuko.Ando@reuters.com; +81 3 6441 1743;))