“42-Year-Old Lawyer’s Corrupt Ways of Embezzling 87 Million Yen and Going to Cabaret Club

“When we asked him to do something for us, he just said, ‘Yes, I understand,’ and bowed to us from beginning to end. He was well-built at over 180cm in height, but he was really a weak-minded type. He was not very good at his job, and he just left everything to the office staff. For the past three months, the phone at the office had been disconnected, and just as I was wondering what was going on, I found out that he had been arrested. He was not the playful type.

He didn’t seem like the type of person who would play around, so I was even more surprised to learn that he had been going to a cabaret club.

On September 17, Osaka Prefectural Police announced the arrest of Daiki Koga, 42, a member of the Osaka Bar Association, on charges of embezzlement in the course of business. He is said to have embezzled a total of 8.3 million yen between March 2007 and March 2008 by withdrawing money without permission from the bank account of a high school boy for whom he was the guardian and by canceling fixed deposits.

“The high school student’s relatives became suspicious and contacted the Osaka Family Court, which discovered the incident. When questioned, Koga admitted to the charges, saying, “There’s no doubt about it,” and explained that he spent the money at a cabaret club. Koga also admitted that he misused the guardianship system to embezzle about 87 million yen, and the prefectural police are investigating other crimes.

The role of a guardian is to manage the client’s deposits, but Koga used his position as a lawyer to get his hands on other people’s property for his own personal gain.

Koga graduated from Kyoto University Faculty of Law in 2003, passed the bar exam in the same year, and worked for a major law firm before setting up his own firm in 2006. Looking at his title alone, he is a picture-perfect “elite lawyer,” but recently he has been receiving constant complaints from his clients.

A man who has been working with Koga says, “I recently received a complaint from a consumer finance company.

A man who has worked with Koga says, “Recently, I was asked to repay a consumer loan and asked Koga to negotiate. He explained to me that he had reached an agreement with them for 200,000 yen, so I transferred 200,000 yen to his account two days before my arrest. I transferred 200,000 yen to Mr. Koga’s account two days before his arrest, but I never heard from him again. I don’t know if he is really talking to the client at all.

The man had been referring to Koga as someone who was looking for a lawyer. The man said that he had introduced Koga as his guardian when an acquaintance consulted him about inheritance of about 60 million yen.

“The amount of money Koga had embezzled totaled 87 million yen. I can’t help but think that he may have touched the inheritance of 60 million yen that I introduced him to as guardian.

Other clients also commented on their impressions of Mr. Koga and his work.

Another client said of her impression of Mr. Koga and his work: “He is a very sober person. He was not the kind of person who wore brand-name suits and ties. He was a bit of a naysayer. About two years ago, the apartment I was renting was flooded due to a typhoon that caused a leak, and I had asked Attorney Koga to compensate me for about 300,000 yen in damages, including furniture.

We paid 30,000 yen as a start-up fee, but we never heard from him, and when we urged him, he just said, “The other party is not convinced and won’t pay. For the past year or so, there has been no one answering the phone when I call the office, and even when I call his cell phone, there is no connection. They may have just made him pay the start-up fee and not done anything at all.

As a lawyer, his methods are so vicious. It seems that he was a habitual criminal, and there may be more crimes to come.