1 July 2022: DSI Issues final non-prosecution order against GL and 2 former Directors

July 1, 2022

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed “In January 2018, criminal charges were brought from JTA to the Thai Department of Special Investigation (“DSI”) against the Company and two individuals, Muneo Tashiro and Mitsuji Konoshita, former directors of the Company. We are pleased to inform you that on 23 June 2022, the DSI issued that it had dropped the above criminal charges against the Company and former directors.

The DSI has now decided to issue a final non-prosecution order which shows that the criminal complaint filed by JTA was unfounded. We believe that the DSI’s decision on the criminal charges relating to the investment made in Thailand is a strong denial of the grounds for future trials based on the same transactions of JTA in other countries around the world. From the outset, the Company and its group companies, as well as the Company’s major shareholders and other stakeholders, have maintained that a number of lawsuits brought by J Trust Asia were abusive. It was crucial for us to go through under such doubt by the criminal case after JTA had submitted such criminal complaint based on the announcement by the Thai SEC in October 2017 when they disqualified the Company’s at the time CEO and forced the Company to restate its 2016 and 2017 financial statements. But at last the case was dropped in favor of our company”

Mr. Riki Ishigami, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “we are happy the DSI came to the same conclusion as us: that these charges were not valid and now are permanently closed. The fact that the criminal complaint by JTA was dropped after a four-and-a-half-year investigation by the DSI and found to be legally baseless strongly supports the claims of the Company, its group companies and major shareholders. We will continue to seek compensation for the damages that the Company, its group companies and shareholders suffered as a result of the wrongful and abusive prosecution of JTA, the J Trust Group and its directors in countries around the world. This final non-prosecution order will assist the Company in court to obtain damages from JTA for their unlawful and abusive legal actions.