Thursday, 10 April, 2008
‘नैनो’ को अफ्रीकी देशों में उतारने की तैयारी
Tuesday, 1 April, 2008
Lehman sues Marubeni for $352 million
Lehman sues Marubeni for $352 million
Michiyo Nakamoto / Tokyo April 1, 2008
Lehman Brothers filed suit on Monday against Marubeni, one of Japan's biggest trading firms, for Y35 billion ($352 million) after the US bank fell victim to an alleged fraud perpetrated by two former employees of the Japanese group.
Lehman’s complaint, filed with the Tokyo District Court, aims to try to recover money lost in a complex scheme that potentially involved forged documents and a third man posing as a senior general manager of the Japanese firm.
Marubeni claimed it was itself a victim of the fraud conducted by a few individuals and said it knew nothing of the scheme until contacted by Lehman. “Marubeni is a victim of having agreements and other documents forged in its name, and a criminal report has been submitted to the police,” it said.
The amounts involved in the Lehman claim pale in comparison with the ¤4.9 billion ($7.4 billion) lost by Société Générale on the positions built by the French bank’s rogue trader but there are fears that the vehicle at the heart of the Marubeni case could have raised money from a number of other investors.
According to Lehman, the Y35 billion in funds and fees related to an investment in a medical business.
The bank entered into a transaction with two Marubeni employees, who were then senior leaders of the trading group’s life care business department.
The two employees have been fired but Marubeni has not disclosed the reason — saying only that they are former employees.
Under the agreement, Lehman was to be repaid the funds with fees, with the first payment due on February 29.
Yet Marubeni failed to pass on any payments and then claimed the documents governing the investment were fake.
An internal investigation by Marubeni “confirmed that Marubeni had no involvement in the forgery of these documents”, the Japanese bank said. “Accordingly, we have no obligation to pay any of these demands.”It also said the medical business itself was “fictional”.
Lehman said it was confident it undertook all appropriate measures on the transaction and was commencing legal action against Marubeni to seek recovery of funds it believed to have been fraudulently misappropriated from transactions in which an affiliate provided financing.
The bank was confident in its case and expected funds to be repaid.