TOKYO - JAPAN'S Marubeni on Saturday rejected a US$352 million (S$478 million) lawsuit by Lehman Brothers over a bogus investment scheme allegedly involving two employees of the trading giant.

In a statement, Marubeni said it had 'no payment obligation whatsoever' to the US investment bank, which two weeks ago filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court seeking compensation as a victim of fraud.

'The case would never have occurred if Lehman had exercised the due care typically expected and required in light of the extraordinary financial amount of the alleged transaction,' Marubeni said.

'The transaction in question was so irregular, and from the amateurish contents of the forged documents, (that) Lehman should have naturally been suspicious,' Marubeni's statement read.

Marubeni, a trading giant whose interests span chemicals, energy, textiles and aerospace, has denied any responsibility.

Two Marubeni employees - who were fired in early March - and a venture called Asclepius Ltd allegedly used faked documents which promised Marubeni would assume debt repayments in the event of insolvency of the firm.

Asclepius, a wholly owned unit of medical consulting firm LTT Bio-Pharma, has since filed for bankruptcy.

Under the scheme, Asclepius lent funds to hospitals through a third party for the purchase of medical equipment from Asclepius or Marubeni. Investors in the funds were supposed to receive repayment with interest later.

The two former employees and Asclepius told investors to expect a 10 per cent return even if the projects failed, and more if they went well, Japanese media said, quoting sources close to the case.

They used a conference room at Marubeni for meetings with investors and presented a fake in-house Marubeni document to make investors believe Marubeni executives had endorsed the projects, media said.

The incident came to light on March 6 when an investor contacted Marubeni after failing to receive any payments. -- AFP

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