P.M. BRIEFING : Japanese Tax Fraud Accusations

TOKYO —  Tax authorities today told 14 Japanese securities houses, including Yamaichi Securities, to pay a total of $54.2 million in taxes and penalties for falsifying tax returns, local media reports said.

A spokesman for the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau would neither confirm nor deny the reports by NHK, the publicly financed broadcasting company, and by Kyodo News Service, neither of which gave sources for the information.

A Yamaichi spokesman said his company was asked this afternoon by the tax bureau to pay additional taxes of $2.1 million for failing to declare income of $53.5 million.

“We are now considering what steps to take,” he said.

He said Yamaichi is unlikely to oppose the demand, but he upheld the company’s previous claim that there is no truth to the tax bureau’s allegation that Yamaichi intentionally made up its client losses by use of warrants.