The decision to file for bankruptcy was not his, the president of language-school chain Geos Corp., Tsuneo Kusunoki, implied in an unusual statement released Thursday.
“The company’s board of directors did not reach a consensus on filing for bankruptcy, and the action was taken by one director and some employees,” Kusunoki said in the statement. “Although it has given the impression that the company filed for bankruptcy, it is actually not the company’s will.”
A Geos lawyer explained that because “three directors could not reach agreement” on the bankruptcy filing, the action was not taken by the board of directors but rather by some executives.
The lawyer stressed that the process is legal.
Kusunoki and another director who did not agree to the bankruptcy filing “insisted on keeping the company alive, disagreed on filing for bankruptcy and refused to put their personal seal” on the bankruptcy document, according to sources who work at Geos.
The filing, dated Tuesday, says the company’s debts total ¥7.5 billion. Hitomi Suhara, a Geos director, told a news conference Wednesday that part of the English conversation business will be taken over by Nagoya-based G.communication.
