Aum Victims Seek Govt Help as Aleph Compensation Stalls; Cult’s Successor Group Said to Have Hidden Assets

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:20 JST, March 21, 2025

Thirty years after the Aum Supreme Truth cult’s deadly attacks, victims’ families are calling for urgent government intervention as compensation payments from its successor group remain stalled.

Marking the 30th anniversary of Aum’s 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on Thursday, victims’ families continue to seek compensation from Aleph, the cult’s main successor.

Payment obligations

On Thursday, lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya, 78, a representative of a support organization for Aum crime victims, laid flowers at Kasumigaseki Station, one of the attack sites. “Forcing Aleph to compensate the victims has proved difficult despite our best efforts,” he said.

Despite the organization’s efforts to secure payments from Aleph on behalf of the victims, about ¥1 billion remains uncollected, sources said.

In addition to the subway gas attack, Aum was responsible for the 1989 murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family, as well as a 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. Upon the bankruptcy of the cult in 1996, it owed about ¥3.8 billion in compensation to about 1,200 victims.

In 2000, Aleph agreed with the bankruptcy trustee to pay the victims. Later, bankruptcy proceedings distributed about ¥1.5 billion, and the victims’ organization took over the remaining ¥2.3 billion in claims from the trustee.

Asset concealment

In 2018, the organization filed a lawsuit against Aleph, seeking payment of more than ¥1 billion, after making deductions such as for about ¥800 million in government benefits paid to victims. In 2020, the court ruled that Aleph was obliged to pay the full amount.

Despite the ruling, the full payment remains outstanding. In 2020 and 2021, the victims organization tried to enforce the judgment but was only able to recover a total of about ¥42 million in cash and other assets belonging to Aleph.

On-site inspections by the Public Security Intelligence Agency have uncovered substantial amounts of cash held in the names of Aleph-affiliated entities. However, enforcement actions are limited to Aleph’s direct assets, making recovery difficult.

A 2023 agency report alleged Aleph “concealed assets” by transferring them to related entities to avoid seizure. The agency estimated that Aleph withheld about ¥700 million from government reporting.

Neglect

The victims’ families submitted a petition to the Justice Ministry and the agency on March 12, requesting that the government purchase the outstanding ¥1 billion in claims, distribute the funds to the victims, and subsequently collect reimbursement from Aleph.

Yuji Nakamura, 68, a lawyer and deputy representative of the organization, decried the government’s “neglect,” arguing that victims and their families should not be left to collect compensation on their own. “The government’s purchase of the claims would lead to early distribution to the victims and help reduce the danger of Aleph,” he said.