Former Japan Sogo chief arrested

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japanese police say they have arrested Hiroo Mizushima, the 89-year-old former chairman of failed department store Sogo Co, on suspicion of concealing personal wealth to avoid seizure by creditors.

Mizushima was arrested late on Friday at his Tokyo hospital bed, where he had been since Wednesday after complaining of heart problems, police told Reuters.

He was moved to a police hospital for questioning early on Saturday, police said.

Japanese media said that the former Sogo chairman has denied the accusation.

His lawyers criticised the arrest in the media on Saturday.

"He could barely talk. I can't believe how the police arrested him," Mainichi Shimbun daily quoted one of his lawyers as saying after he visited Mizushima at the police hospital.

Sogo filed for court protection from debts of 1.87 trillion yen ($15.51 billion) last July, rattling the domestic finance industry with the first in a series of major Japanese bankruptcies.

Mizushima presided over Sogo for 38 years as president and later board chairman before stepping down in April 2000 at the height of Sogo's troubles.

Sogo is undergoing reconstruction under the wings of Seibu Department Stores Ltd.