Tokyo Barrister: Start the law firm bankruptcy

Chapter 898: Another Battle at the Court
Anything that happens will leave traces. Although the debts between the bank and Nippon Steel were offset against each other, it was difficult to detect. However, Nippon Steel's transfer of assets to the bank before offsetting the debts did leave traces.

Kitahara and others soon noticed that in the bankruptcy accounting, many asset transfer agreements between banks and Nippon Steel suddenly and inexplicably appeared.

In the morning, at Eto Law Office.

"What on earth is going on?" Miyakawa asked in confusion. She lowered her head and repeatedly looked through the asset transfer agreement between the bank and Nippon Steel.

The asset transfers involved in these agreements are very wide-ranging, from mines to accounts receivable to some of Nippon Steel's overseas investment shares.

At first, when Miyakawa saw these agreements, he thought that Nippon Steel was going to transfer assets to the bank for free again, but it turned out that there was no problem with the transfer price of these assets.

"Why do banks suddenly want to take over so many Nippon Steel assets?" Miyakawa didn't understand the reason.

Niwa, who was standing next to him, looked at these agreements and fell into deep thought.

These asset transfer agreements involve the transfer of land.

To this end, Niwa also specifically traced the price that Nippon Steel originally obtained for the transferred land from the local city hall.

The results showed that the land transfer prices were in line with market prices and there was no problem.

But if that's the case, it's very strange.

Nippon Steel's operating conditions are so difficult, why do banks still have to pay cash to take over Nippon Steel's assets?
This is not in line with the common sense of banking operations.

Kitahara held these agreements and began to examine them carefully. He was also thinking about the real purpose of these agreements. Kitahara was not an expert in bankruptcy law. After fighting with Tanimoto, Tamashiro, and Abe, the three bankruptcy lawyers, he could clearly feel that he was indeed not as good as these three lawyers in grasping the difficult details of bankruptcy law.

This is also something that can't be helped.

After all, the expert knowledge forged from decades of hard work in a narrow field cannot be acquired overnight.

It is also because of this that Kitahara is unprecedentedly cautious about all actions of Nippon Steel.

In front of the experts

Even if you made a small mistake.

But it can also lead to your destruction.

So, what is the real purpose of these transfer agreements? The transfer price is fine, and Nippon Steel did not sell these assets to banks at a price below the market price.

What exactly does Nippon Steel want to do?
Suddenly, a flash of lightning flashed through my mind.

The purpose of the bank must be to obtain priority repayment. And if the bank wants to obtain priority repayment in disguise through these transfer agreements, the only possibility is that the bank uses the loan debt to offset the obligation to pay the asset transfer fee! In this way, the bank can get the assets of Nippon Steel without paying! ! !

"It's debt offset!!" Kitahara suddenly looked up and said.

"Offset?" Miyakawa asked in confusion. However, with his smart mind and experience in bankruptcy practice, Miyakawa immediately realized what was going on.

"What's going on?" Niwa had no legal knowledge, so he naturally didn't understand what Kitahara meant.

Miyagawa explained it to Niwa in detail.

From what is debt offset to how Nippon Steel and banks use this method to evade bankruptcy law supervision.

After hearing this, Niwa was completely shocked by this method.

In front of the top lawyers——

No matter how airtight a law is, it will become like a sieve.

This is the terrifying level of the Nippon Steel Lawyers Team!
As a financial investigative reporter, Niwa knows that to track down abnormal financial behavior, one often has to rely on the link of funds. If the path of funds cannot be found, then the investigation will be very difficult to proceed. Now, the method of "mutually offsetting debts" that Nippon Steel and the bank have come up with will not leave any payment path for the funds.

This is the horror of this method. However, Niwa then unconsciously looked at Kitahara again.

The more I got along with this young lawyer, the more I felt he was a monster.

The word "monster" here is a neutral word.

Not a derogatory term.

What this means is that Kitahara's abilities are simply beyond human expectations.

Now he is fighting with three bankruptcy lawyers at the same time!
Not only do we need to counter each move with our own counterattack.

You also need to think about the next step and what moves your opponent will make.

"Kitahara, I have to say, it's incredible that you can even see this." Niwa couldn't help but say.

"Next, we will resolve this issue in the lawsuit regarding the right of rescission and ask the court to revoke the debt offset between the bank and Nippon Steel," Kitahara said.

The direction of the case has once again become uncertain.

If the debt offset between the bank and Nippon Steel succeeds, it means that the entire assets of Nippon Steel will be emptied by the bank again.

"Every step is so difficult!" Niwa sighed beside him.

Since the Nippon Steel case——

They have already had several lawsuits -

These include Nippon Steel's bankruptcy filing, the bank's mortgage issues, and criminal reports of corruption by Nippon Steel's management.

Now, the unreasonable debt repayment actions of Nippon Steel and other external suppliers and banks must be revoked.

Adding it all together, that’s equivalent to four cases.

Niwa felt tired just by watching.

This was the first time she felt that a legal case was not a few minutes of verbal battle in court like in TV dramas, but a long battle like a marathon.

……

……

……

Soon, the Tokyo High Court accepted the case again.

After all, the unreasonable business contract that Kitahara and his team requested to cancel also involved corruption within Nippon Steel, so the executives were naturally nervous. Although it was inconvenient to say it clearly, the top executives of Nippon Steel also hoped that the three lawyers, Tanimoto, Tamashiro, and Abe, would be present to defend the case.

The court date was quickly set.

The presiding judge is still Judge Tsutomu Ōno.

The pace of the Nippon Steel bankruptcy case also surprised many judges. The judges of the Tokyo High Court did not expect that Nippon Steel would face lawsuits one after another not long after the bankruptcy was launched. Previously, they thought that after revoking the bank's mortgage rights, the case would at least be quiet for a while, at least until the creditors' meeting was formed, and then the dispute could be resumed.

But now there is another case.

The Tokyo High Court also knew that the bankruptcy administrator had reported the criminal case of contract fraud to the police. However, the court could only accept the case first and then suspend the trial. Therefore, the court also decided to let the plaintiff and the defendant make initial defense. The trial began soon.

(End of this chapter)