Chairman of Colowide leaks the reason why I was cheated out of 3.1 billion yen in a scam

The “Key Industry Development Fund” is said to be managed by the victorious nation based on assets confiscated from the former Japanese military by the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (GHQ). There is a top executive of a famous company who believed that the so-called “M fund” existed.

He is 74-year-old Kaneo Kurando, chairman of Colowide Corporation, which operates such restaurant brands as Gyukaku, Otoya, Kappa Sushi, and Kantaro.

Chairman Kurato was approached by Kaoru Muto, 67, aka Mac Aoi, who says he was a member of the UK’s secret intelligence service, and others with an offer of a loan of 280 billion yen from M funds that would not need to be repaid. They transferred approximately 3.1 billion yen as expenses in a total of 10 installments since September 2005.

In the trial of Muto, who was arrested and indicted for this fraud in June 2008, Chairman Kurando appeared as a witness at the Yokohama District Court on November 11 and 12. This magazine directly interviewed Mr. Kurato after his cross-examination on November 12.

–Why did you believe him?

I guess I’m a single-minded person. （It was because the fraudster was introduced by a university professor. If you call him a professor, he’s ……, but you wouldn’t understand.”

— “280 billion yen has arrived in Japan,” you were told, and you were paying for the warehouse every month, but you didn’t think you were being cheated?

Didn’t you think you were being cheated? “Those people are mysterious. （Even after I yelled at them, they would call me again. They send me e-mails without hesitation. (I was) lax and stupid. It is said that there are 50,000 of these scammers out there. But you know, (M-funded loans) have gone out to 2,800 companies over the decades.”

–although such stories are heard as urban legends. ……

It’s just that people don’t talk about it. You don’t believe that the basement of the Imperial Hotel is connected to the basement of the U.S. Embassy, do you?　It’s true. In the old days, you would be invited to the hotel, go through the underground passage, have an interview (at the U.S. Embassy), get paid, and then go home the next day with a casual look on your face. (There are many such cases). For example, Mr. ●● (founder of a major electronic parts manufacturer). It’s the same with ●● (a major electronics manufacturer).

You’re a reporter, but you don’t know. I’ve heard from about 200 people. I heard from about 200 people. The people who received the money won’t tell me even if they die. （A few percent of the money is left to the company’s discretion and the rest is returned to the company. If you don’t do that, you won’t get it. But it’s not supposed to go to the restaurant business.

After saying this, Kurando and Kohei Nojiri, the company’s president, drove away in a luxury car that had come to pick them up (see photo above).

Even after being swindled out of more than 3 billion yen, Kurando still seems to believe that the M funds actually exist. Despite my meddling, I can’t help but worry about the future of Colowide.

FRIDAY” December 3, 2021 issue