Aum successor accused of hiding assets to avoid paying redress

The Public Security Intelligence Agency has extended activity restrictions against Aleph, the successor group of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, over suspicions it is concealing assets to avoid paying compensation to crime victims.

The agency believes Aleph started hiding hundreds of millions of yen in assets after it was ordered to pay bereaved families and victims of Aum Shinrikyo’s series of crimes, including the sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995.

The restrictions come under the law for regulation of associations, which was enacted in 1999 with countermeasures against Aum Shinrikyo in mind.

Under the law, Aleph is required to provide the government a report about the group’s members and assets every three months.

However, in September, the Public Security Examination Commission, which accepts requests from the Public Security Intelligence Agency, found Aleph’s reports were inadequate and decided to restrict its activities for another six months to prevent a recurrence.

The activity restriction prohibits Aleph from using all or part of 16 group facilities, as well as receiving money and other goods, such as offerings.

Aleph has about 20 facilities nationwide.

The restriction on facility use was first imposed on the group in March 2023. This is the fourth time it has been imposed on the group.

In the decision, the Public Security Examination Commission found that Aleph has been engaged in profit-making businesses under at least 10 names.

These businesses include managing facilities used for Aleph activities, selling goods to “zaike” members, and conducting seminars.

The commission determined that assets held under nine of the business names totaled about 700 million yen ($4.77 million) as of the end of January this year, and that they were not reported to the government.

The Public Security Intelligence Agency has noted a rapid decline in Aleph’s reported assets since 2020, from about 1.3 billion yen in 2019 to only about 40 million yen in the most recent year.

It was in 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled that Aleph must pay about 1.025 billion yen in unpaid compensation to victims of Aum’s crimes.

An agency official said the decrease in reported assets is a “malicious concealment of assets to evade payment of compensation.”

The official also said Aleph’s financial strength is declining due to the 18-month-long ban on entering and leaving many of its “dojo” facilities.

In the past, Aleph regularly held seminars and other events at dojo facilities around the country for its zaike members. At the peak, the group was earning about 100 million a year from those events alone.

However, the group is no longer able to generate such income because of the activity restrictions, according to the agency.

In response to the commission’s decision in September, the government offered an “opinion hearing” to listen to the arguments of the Aleph side.

Aleph has not attended any of the past four hearings.

Instead, the group has filed a lawsuit demanding the cancellation of the disposition, claiming procedures leading up to the decision were unfair.

Aleph has not provided the unpaid compensation even four years after the Supreme Court finalized the ruling.

Creditors can file for garnishment, but they must identify Aleph’s properties through a petition to the court.

In December 2021, Aum Shinrikyo Hanzai-Higaisha Shien Kiko (Support organization for victims of crimes committed by Aum Shinrikyo), filed a motion for disclosure of Aleph’s properties.

But the organization said Aleph did not respond to the court’s summons, claiming that the person listed in the documents was not the current Aleph representative.

About 500 creditors are seeking money from Aleph, according to the support organization.

“Aleph’s attitude of not facing up to the damage is totally insincere and is the very nature of Aum Shinrikyo,” Yuji Nakamura, a lawyer at the support organization, said.

Aum Shinrikyo started as a yoga studio founded by Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara, and became a religious corporation in 1989.

The cult’s crime spree included the Tokyo sarin attack, which killed 13 and injured more than 6,000, and the 1994 nerve gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, which killed eight and injured about 600.

In 2018, Matsumoto and 12 other former cult leaders were executed.

Since then, successor and derivative groups, such as Aleph, Yamadara no Shudan (the group of Yamada and others), and Hikari no Wa (Ring of lights), have been active, according to the Public Security Intelligence Agency.

Aleph is considered the mainstream group, with about 1,200 members as of the end of April this year.