After admitting Wednesday that his company had falsified ownership reports for three decades, the president of Izuhakone Railway Co., an affiliate of Seibu Railway Co., said he was contemplating stepping down.

The company, listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, began to fudge its figures in 1974 in an attempt to remain listed on the TSE, Teruni Serizawa told a news conference.

At the time, the firm was in danger of failing to meet a TSE listing requirement because its number of shareholders and transaction volume on the bourse were small, he said.

The company, based in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, operates railways in the resort areas of Hakone and Izu.

Serizawa said 44,634 shares owned by four Seibu group companies, including Seibu Construction Ltd., were deliberately reported as belonging to individual investors.

``I feel I have to take responsibility,'' he said. ``I will make a decision after the matter is settled.''

About 400 individuals were reported as owning the 44,634 shares in the company's financial statement for fiscal 2003. Among the names were Yoshiaki Tsutsumi--former chairman of Kokudo Corp., the top shareholder in Seibu Railway--Izuhakone Railway executives, and current and former employees.

Dividends on the shares were paid to the four group companies.

As a result, the combined ratio of the company's top 10 shareholders is expected to rise to about 76 percent, up from the 74.72 percent reported at the end of March.

Shares registered under the names of Izuhakone Railway executives have in reality been managed by subsidiary Izuhakone Travel Inc., a travel agency also based in Mishima.

The TSE put Izuhakone Railway's stock on its supervision post Tuesday to indicate the issue is under screening for possible delisting.

Seibu Railway and parent company Kokudo admitted on Oct. 13 that the railway operator listed on the TSE's First Section had erroneously stated the combined ownership of its top 10 shareholders as 63.68 percent, much lower than the actual figure of 88.57 percent. The TSE's listing requirements state that a company's top 10 stockholders cannot hold more than 80 percent of all shares for a year or more.(IHT/Asahi: October 28,2004) (10/28)