Hiroyuki Nishimura, 36, founder of online bulletin board 2channel, received about ¥350 million in advertising revenue from the site despite selling his management rights to an overseas firm in 2009, informed sources said.
Nishimura allegedly failed to declare about ¥100 million of the ¥350 million, and has been confronted about this by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, according to the sources.
Nishimura posted on his own blog that he had transferred the right to operate 2channel to Packet Monster Inc., a company registered in Singapore, in January 2009.
In a book titled "Boku ga 2channel o Suteta Riyu" (The Reason I Abandoned 2channel), which Nishimura published in June that same year, he wrote, "I no longer serve as an administrator of the Internet forum [after selling it to a Singaporean firm] and I've become an adviser or a mere user [of the forum]."
According to the sources, the advertising revenue from 2channel was originally paid mainly to Tokyo Plus K.K., a Kita Ward, Tokyo-based company that deals in Internet-related business and for which Nishimura serves as chief executive officer.
But then, from 2009 to 2012, the revenue of about ¥350 million was transferred to Packet Monster Inc.
