Society

Japanese police arrest leading suspect in fraudulent Tokyo land deal

Jan 14 (Japan Times) - A 59-year-old man believed to be one of the main suspects in a bogus land deal in Tokyo has been arrested, a key development in the investigation into a mass-scale fraud that swindled billions of yen from the countryâ€™s leading house builder.

Misao Kaminsukasu was arrested Friday after arriving in Japan from the Philippines. Since last month, he had been detained in Manila on suspicion of providing false documents to the Japanese Legal Affairs Bureau on June 1, 2017, according to the Japanese police and the Philippinesâ€™ Bureau of Immigration.

Kaminsukasu, who has denied the allegations, is believed to be one of the masterminds of a criminal group that swindled Sekisui House Ltd. out of about Â¥5.55 billion in a deal to sell a 2,000-sq.-meter plot of land in a top-rated location in Tokyoâ€™s Shinagawa Ward, an investigative source said.

Kaminsukasu led negotiations with the company for the land, which was formerly used as the site of an inn, a Japanese investigative source said.

Tokyo police have already arrested 16 people in connection with the case. Kaminsukasu fled to the Philippines a few days before eight of them were arrested last October. He turned himself in at the Japanese Embassy in Manila on Dec. 19 after the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department placed him on an international wanted list. He was then detained by Philippine immigration authorities.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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