Haga Kenji
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High court overturns not-guilty verdict for actor Haga over fraud
羽賀被告らに実刑判決 詐欺事件で大阪高裁
TV personality Kenji Haga is seen on his way to the Osaka High Court on June 17. (Mainichi)
OSAKA (Kyodo) -- The Osaka High Court on Friday overturned a not-guilty verdict handed down by a lower court, giving 49-year-old actor Kenji Haga a six-year prison term for defrauding a man and attempting to blackmail him.
The high court also overturned a not-guilty ruling by the Osaka District Court for former professional boxer Jiro Watanabe, 56, who was charged with conspiring with Haga in the blackmail attempt, and sentenced him to two years in prison.
Haga's lawyer said the actor would be appealing the ruling.
The focal point of the trial was the credibility of the testimony given by the man who was defrauded and threatened. The high court said it found the victim's testimony credible.
The lower court in November 2008 acquitted Haga on charges of defrauding the man of 370 million yen and attempting to blackmail him into writing off 400 million yen worth of debts, citing doubts about the victim's testimony after a former dentist and acquaintance of Haga gave testimony favorable to the actor. Watanabe was also acquitted on the same grounds.
But the high court's Presiding Judge Hiroshi Furukawa found the former dentist's testimony unnatural as it was not supported by objective evidence and judged that he was being "intentionally deceitful" out of concern for Haga, who had close ties with him.
Furukawa said the victim's testimony was "consistent with other facts and thus highly credible," and found both Haga and Watanabe guilty.
After the lower court ruling, public prosecutors indicted the former dentist and he was later found guilty of perjury concerning his testimony at the lower court. Furukawa admitted the perjury ruling as evidence in Haga's and Watanabe's trial.
According to the ruling, Haga, whose real name is Mikio Toma, defrauded an acquaintance of 370 million yen between June and October in 2001 as payment for the unlisted stock of a medical consulting firm, which was three times higher than the actual cost of the stock.
But the company went under before listing its stock, and the man demanded that Haga pay back 400 million yen as compensation.
In collusion with Watanabe, a former world championship holder, and two gangsters, Haga was then accused of coercing the man at a hotel in Osaka in June 2006 into signing a contract stating he would waive the 400 million yen if Haga paid 10 million yen, the ruling said.
The former dentist testified that the victim knew about the actual price of the stock as they had talked about buying it.
Both the defendants pleaded not guilty, while the prosecutors demanded eight and four years in prison, respectively, for Haga and Watanabe.
(Mainichi Japan) June 18, 2011
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羽賀研二被告に逆転有罪判決
逆転有罪の判決を受け、携帯で話しながら大阪高裁を出る羽賀研二被告
未公開株売買をめぐる３億７０００万円の詐欺と恐喝未遂罪に問われた元タレント・羽賀研二（本名・當眞美喜男）被告（４９）と、恐喝未遂の共犯とされた元プロボクシング世界王者・渡辺二郎被告（５６）の控訴審判決で大阪高裁は１７日、１審大阪地裁の無罪判決を破棄し、羽賀被告に懲役６年、渡辺被告に懲役２年の逆転有罪を言い渡した。羽賀被告側は上告の意向を示した。
有罪の主文を聞いてうつむいた羽賀被告は、古川博裁判長が長々と理由を述べる間、「フーッ」と法廷中に聞こえる大きなため息を１度つき、白いハンカチで何度も顔や首筋をぬぐった。ほとんど身じろぎしない渡辺被告とは対照的だった。
判決によると、羽賀被告は２００１年６～１０月、男性に医療コンサルタント会社の未公開株を元値の３倍の１株１２０万円と説明し、代金など計３億７０００万円を詐取。男性から返済を求められたため渡辺被告らと共謀し０６年６月、男性を脅して１０００万円で債権放棄するよう迫った。
未公開株を高値で買った被害者男性の供述の信用性が最大の争点となり、１審は羽賀被告の知人の元歯科医が「男性は元値を知っていた」との旨の証言をしたことを重視。だが、古川裁判長は被害者の供述を「高い信用性がある」と有罪の根拠とし、羽賀被告らの供述は「不自然で不合理」などと退け、犯行を「卑劣でハレンチ」と斬り捨てた。元歯科医は、詐欺事件の１審判決後に偽証罪に問われ、大阪地裁の別の裁判長が有罪判決を言い渡した。古川裁判長はこの判決を証拠採用していた。
主任弁護人の後藤貞人氏は閉廷後、羽賀被告から「上告をお願いします。戦ってください」と伝えられたことを明かした。
渡辺二郎被告「不当な判決だと思います。事実認定が強引ではないかと思う」
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Actor Haga arrested over blackmail
Kyodo News
Actor and jewelry designer Kenji Haga was arrested Saturday along with three others for allegedly blackmailing a real estate agent into forgiving 400 million yen worth of Haga's debts, police said.
News photo
Those arrested were Haga, 45, whose real name is Mikio Toma; Jiro Watanabe, 51, a former world champion professional boxer and an affiliate of a group linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate; and Toshikazu Kawakita, 69, also an affiliate of the same group. The fourth person was not identified.
According to the police, the four planned to threaten the 51-year-old Osaka man in May 2006 to waive 400 million yen owed by Haga. In June 2006, they met him at an Osaka hotel and coerced him into signing a contract stating he would forgive Haga's debt once he paid 10 million yen.
Haga was not at the hotel, but Watanabe later reported to Haga over the phone that the man had signed the contract, police said.
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Kenji Haga arrested again
September 20, 2007
tokyograph
Actor Kenji Haga has been arrested again, this time for fraud. He was previously arrested in June for blackmail, and he was subsequently indicted.
In 2001, a male acquaintance asked him to be the intermediary for a private equity transaction. He wanted to purchase 50 shares of medical consulting firm Wellness, which were priced at 400,000 yen. However, Haga told him the shares were 1.2 million yen each, charging him a total of 60 million yen. He gave the man the requested 50 shares while pocketing the remaining 40 million yen, using some of it to buy stock for himself. Police also believe Haga later defrauded the man of additional money.
Haga denied the charges, saying it was the man who insisted on buying the shares even at that price. When questioned about the incident after Haga’s arrest, the man declined to comment.
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