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Major English school operator Geos goes bankrupt
Major English school operator Geos Corp. filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday at the Tokyo District Court with liabilities of about 7.5 billion yen, company officials said. Tokyo-based Geos operated 329 schools that had approximately 36,800 students. Nagoya-based G.Communication Group is set to take over 230 of the schools with some 29,000 students, while 99 other…
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Human rights in Japan: a top 10 for ’09
They say that human rights advances come in threes: two steps forward and one back. 2009, however, had good news and bad on balance. For me, the top 10 human rights events of the year that affected non-Japanese (NJ) were, in ascending order: 7) ‘Itchy and Scratchy’ (tied) Accused murderer Tatsuya Ichihashi and convicted embezzler…
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2 gangsters held over holding of ex-Nova boss
Two members of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate were arrested on the spot Monday on suspicion of confining the former president of the failed language school chain Nova Corp. inside a Tokyo hotel, police said. According to senior police officials, the two men confined Nozomu Sahashi, 58, who has been sentenced to 3-1/2 years’ imprisonment for…
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Yakuza nabbed for confining disgraced ex-president of NOVA in hotel room
Several men including a yakuza member have been arrested for confining the former president of failed English conversation school Nova for several days in a hotel room, police said. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested several men on Monday, including a member from a gang related to the Yamaguchi-gumi criminal syndicate, on suspicion of confining…
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Few answers for language market
Japan’s language-related business sales have been on the decline, falling for the fourth straight in year in fiscal 2008, according to a market research firm. English-language schools, the largest segment of the language market, admit they are hurting from a decline in adult classes and blame the sluggish economy and the fallout from the Nova…
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Nova ruling puts spotlight on Japan’s consumer affairs
Nozomu Sahashi, the former president of collapsed English language school operator Nova, was recently handed a three-year six month prison sentence in a ruling at the Osaka District Court. Sahashi was convicted of embezzlement in the conduct of business, by misappropriating money from an employees’ fund to cover payments for cancelled contracts. Nova had collected…
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Ex-Nova boss gets 3 1/2 yrs for embezzlement
The former president of failed language school chain Nova Corp. was sentenced Wednesday to 3-1/2 years in prison for professional embezzlement involving misuse of the reserve funds of an employees mutual aid organization. In the ruling given at the Osaka District Court, presiding Judge Hiroaki Higuchi said Nozomu Sahashi, 57, decided management strategies as the…
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Ex-Nova chief gets prison term
Nozomu Sahashi, founder of bankrupt English language school chain Nova Corp., was sentenced Wednesday to three years and six months in prison for embezzlement. Presiding Judge Hiroaki Higuchi of the Osaka District Court said there was no room for leniency because Sahashi, 57, diverted money pooled for employee benefits to deal with his company’s crisis.…
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Nova boss handed 3 1/2 years
Former Nova President Nozomu Sahashi was sentenced Wednesday to 3 1/2 years in prison by the Osaka District Court for his role in skimming off employee funds in 2007, just before the foreign language school giant’s bankruptcy that October. Presiding Judge Hiroaki Higuchi’s severe sentence took some in the courtroom by surprise. Prosecutors had sought…
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Ex-Nova boss handed prison sentence for embezzling from workers’ fund
The Osaka District Court on Wednesday sentenced the former president of collapsed English language school operator Nova, who went on trial facing charges of embezzling money from an employees’ fund, to three years, six months behind bars. Handed the sentence was former company president Nozomu Sahashi, 57. According to the ruling, Sahashi transferred 320 million…