Yoshiaki Tsutsumi
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi (Japanese堤 义 明, Tsutsumi Yoshiaki; * May 29, 1934 ) is a Japanese entrepreneur. He was for a long time principal owner and chairman of the Seibu Group, which, alongside Hotels ( Prince Hotel), amusement parks and the Seibu Lions baseball team of the same railway company also heard that operates several lines in the north- west of Tokyo.
Forbes ranking
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, the Seibu Group inherited from his father Yasujiro Tsutsumi, who had built the company. His older half-brother Seiji Tsutsumi inherited only the department store chain ( Depāto ) KK Seibu Hyakkaten (English Seibu Department Store, Ltd.. ).
By 1990, Tsutsumi led for three years at the Forbes list of the richest people in the world and fell back thereafter. In 2007 he was no longer on the list.
The Olympic dream
Tsutsumi began its economic and political influence to support the (successful ) application for the Nagano Winter Olympic Games 1998. Among other things, he donated $ 20 million for the construction of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, a project of the then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. Not least because even corruption allegations against the International Olympic Committee (IOC ) to award the games were loud.
In addition, it was criticized that Tsutsumi in the hotel and leisure sector owning real estate in the region is not only the largest producer but also the largest beneficiary of the Olympic Games in Nagano as an entrepreneur. In the context of the infrastructure during the preparations of the 1997 Nagano Shinkansen was the high speed train between Takasaki and Nagano inaugurated, that binds the region together with the Joetsu Shinkansen to the metropolis of Tokyo.
Tsutsumi was between 1989 and March 1990 President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and from 1997 until his resignation in 2004 Honorary President. He was also an honorary member of the IOC. In April 2005, Tsutsumi membership of the IOC was suspended on the recommendation of the Ethics Committee.
Withdrawal and process
After allegations of misleading potential investors Tsutsumi occurred on 13 October 2004 from all offices of the Seibu group of companies back. The authorities launched an investigation. On 3 March 2005 Tsutsumi was arrested for making false statements about the distribution of share ownership of the Seibu Railway Company in Tokyo. He was sentenced on 27 October 2005 to a prison sentence of 30 months probation and a fine of five million yen.