Katsuichiro Hisanaga, the fallen kingpin of Japanese figure skating, usually had a smile on his face when he visited Canada.

``Any time I ever dealt with him, he was fun to be around,'' says Doug Leigh, head coach at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ont. ``He was positive, always talking about good stuff.

``He was an upbeat character overall.''

Japanese skater Takeshi Honda trained at Mariposa for seven years, and Hisanaga used to drop in to check up on Honda's progress.

Hisanaga, 75, and two others were charged in Japan earlier this month of being involved in a scheme whereby a company involved in the staging of the 2002 world championships in Nagano overcharged the Japanese federation nearly US$50,000 for the cost of accommodation and other expenses. The excess money was allegedly kicked back to Hisanaga and others.

A media release issued Monday by the International Skating Union from its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, announced the suspension of the honourary membership given Hisanaga by the ISU after he was not re-elected as the vice-president for figure skating after the 2002 world meet.

``Since the investigation of Mr. Hisanaga is reported to be for the embezzlement of funds directly connected to his international activity in the sport of figure skating, the (ISU) council decided to suspend the ISU honourary membership of Mr. Katsuichiro Hisanaga pending the outcome of the investigation,'' the ISU release stated. ``The council will take further action upon receiving the final decision of the Japanese authorities having jurisdiction in the matter.''

Hisanaga was last in Barrie during the 2002-2003 season. He would stay at a Toronto hotel.

``He's the one who basically got Japanese skating going,'' Leigh said from Barrie. ``The NHK Trophy meet (on the Grand Prix circuit) and all that evolved over time, he was a big part of getting that going.

``He was a pretty good guy, but he's been out of the loop for the last 18 months now.''

Hot young prospect Nobunari Oda currently trains at Mariposa with coach Lee Barkell, who also coaches Canadian champion and Olympic bronze medallist Jeff Buttle.

Scandals have rocked the Japanese federation, leaving Oda and others abroad paying most of their own expenses.

``They used to have some financial help, but now they've lost most of it given their federation's problems,'' said Leigh.

Skaters such as Shizuka Arakawa, who won 2006 Olympic gold, have enjoyed considerable success amid the turmoil.

Hisanaga was the Japan federation's president for six years, and also headed the federation's business committee, until he resigned citing health reasons in June 2004. Suspicions about bookkeeping had begun to surface in 2003.

Police suspect other bills to the federation might have been padded over the years to provide ``special benefits'' to committee members amounting to more than US$400,000. Media reports indicate Hisanaga has given more than $300,000 to the federation since the investigation began last March. Eight federation directors resigned in April.

David Dore of Ottawa now holds the ISU executive post that once belonged to Hisanaga. The 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics pairs scandal occurred under Hisanaga's watch.

During the 2003 world championships in Washington, a splinter group held a news conference to announce the formation of the World Skating Federation to try and wrest control of figure skating from the ISU, which also oversees speedskating.

Hisanaga said at the time that he would recommend to his federation that it endorse the WSF. The WSF never got off the ground.