Photo/Illutration Hidetoshi Tanaka, the former board chairman of Nihon University, leaves his Tokyo home on March 29 to head to Tokyo District Court. (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

A university reform council report released on March 31 recommended various measures to prevent Nihon University from again falling under the excess influence of a dubious board chairman.

The control exerted by Hidetoshi Tanaka, 75, over the private Tokyo university known as Nichidai was described as somewhat tyrannical in a separate report released the same day.

Tanaka, who resigned as board chairman, was convicted of tax evasion, given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay a fine of 13 million yen ($106,000).

But the scandal at the university went beyond tax evasion. The university is believed to have suffered huge financial losses through the schemes carried out by Tanaka’s associates and others.

Although Tanaka was not arrested in the breach of trust investigation, the reports indicated that his power helped to pave the way for the financial scams.

The reform council report recommended that the school’s next board chairman come from outside Nihon University.

It also recommended that all 40 or so directors and auditors who were in office when the scandal first surfaced be banned from future selection to such posts.

Nihon University is expected to revise its procedure for choosing directors and set up a new administrative structure after June.

The council also recommended that at least one-third of the 20 or so new directors come from outside Nihon University, and that they be younger than the last group.

Tanaka served as board chairman for about 13 years. The reform council recommended that the new chairman have a term of four years, which can only be renewed once.

The other report, compiled by a three-lawyer committee, looked into the various scandals at Nihon University when Tanaka was board chairman.

The report concluded that Tanaka held legal responsibility for the actions of a former university board director and others who were indicted on breach of trust charges.

The former director handed money payments to Tanaka that were the basis of his tax evasion conviction.

The report said Tanaka was well aware that the payments he received came from illegal acts, but he did nothing to stop it. The report also said Tanaka took advantage of Nihon University as though it was his own possession.

Those acts paved the way for Tanaka to establish a tyranny of sorts over the university, according to the report.

He failed in his obligation to properly oversee university operations and also held responsibility for the financial damage incurred by the university due to the breach of trust case, the report stated.

(This article was written by Kazufumi Kaneko and Jun Miura.)

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