Mainichi Shimbun on $134 billion treasury bond incident

I noticed that Ken Worsley is still following the $134 billion treasury bond case. The Mainichi Shimbun apparently sent a reporter. A short article appeared on the internet. Here is the link. Here is a very poor translation. (I couldn't find one at the English Mainichi shimbun site.) I say poor, but I think it contains all the important information with out any major errors. It's just a bit sloppy. Corrections and clarifications are more than welcome.

イタリア：１３兆円分証券は偽造品？　密輸未遂で拘束の日本人２人、処罰法なく釈放

Headline: Are the $130 billion in bonds fake? The two Japanese arrested for smuggling have been released.

　【コモ（イタリア北部）藤原章生】日本人男性２人が今月３日、計１３４０億ドル（約１３兆円）相当の米有価証券をイタリアからスイスに持ち出そうとしたとして、イタリア当局に拘束された事件で、所持していた証券は偽造の可能性が高いことが１５日までの毎日新聞の取材で分かった。

Regarding the $134 billion in treasury bonds seized by Italian authorities from two Japanese nationals crossing the border from Italy to Switzerland, it has been learned by the Mainichi Newspaper that the chances of them being fake are very high.

また、今年４月上旬にも日本人が関与したとみられる別の偽造証券の押収事案があったことが判明。イタリア財務警察とコモ検察庁は、相次ぐ「巨額」偽造証券の背後に日本人を含む組織的な関与があるとみて捜査している。

At the beginning of April, Japanese were involved in a similar case of high denomination fake bonds. The Italian police and the local city officials have seen case after case (?) of large denomination bonds in possession of Japanese, which is the background in which these two Japanese were searched and arrested. [Not sure I understand the implications of ”相次ぐ”, which seems to imply this has been happening a while. Has it happened just twice now or is it a regular occurrence?]

　同検察庁は、在ローマ米大使館と連携し、押収した証券について調査。

Both local authorities and Italian police have been cooperating with the American embassy in Rome over this issue. [Does the word "調査” imply that American authorities have actually looked at the bonds? Or were just asked about them.]

関係者によると、２人が所持していた米国債やケネディ債は「額面の大きさや発行年代が現存しない可能性が高い」という。

Based on the year and amount of the bonds, the chances of such bonds *not* existing is very high.

イタリアの法律では、証券が本物の場合、２人には未申告輸出の容疑で巨額の罰金刑が科せられるが、偽物の場合、使用や提示がなければ処罰されないため、２人は事情聴取後に釈放された。

As per Italian law, while a large penalty can be levied against the bonds if they were real, as in this case the bonds were not real (and were not going to be used), so no penalty was leveraged and the men were let go after questioning.

在ミラノ日本総領事館は２人の所在を把握していないという。

The Japanese consulate general in Milan has no information about the whereabouts of these two Japanese.

今年４月の事件では、日本人から依頼を受けたイタリア人男性が、額面２００億ドル相当の日本国債の偽造品をスイスに持ち出そうとし財務警察に押収された。

Also as far as the incident in April, an Italian man was also found holding $20,000,000,000 (in approximate value, not denomination) in Japanese bonds at the request of the Japanese (men).

Comment: It certainly sounds like a kind of scam. I have absolutely no idea, but a wild guess might be that this is some low level scam, similar to the African email stuff everyone gets. Like maybe they pretend they are trying to dump bonds, but need your help. They then ask for some upfront money.