The Public Security Investigation Agency asked in November for another three-year extension after the current period expires Jan. 31, claiming Shoko Asahara, the cult's founder who has been sentenced to death over the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system and other crimes, maintains his influence over the group.

The agency, a unit of the Justice Ministry, has also demanded that the cult, which has renamed itself Aleph, report to the agency about its profit-making businesses, saying it is gaining "a large amount of funds from illegal profit-making businesses."

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 28, 2006
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