TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have widened a probe into a health insurance fraud carried out by organized crime members to include a medical corporation in Chiba Prefecture, reports Nippon News Network (Feb. 6)
Between July of 2011 and January 2013, Keitaro Mito, 50, the boss of an affiliate gang of the Sumiyoshi-kai, dentist Takeshi Shigematsu, 58, the head of Shigematsu-kai, and nine others conspired to falsely report medical records to collect 3.66 million yen in health insurance payments from 10 municipal bodies.
Shigematsu-kai operated dental clinics in the cities of Funabashi and Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture prior to their shutdown, according to the Mainichi Shimbun (Feb. 6). Kazuo Hayakawa, a 39-year-old executive at a consulting company, who was among those arrested, introduced patients to Shigematsu.
In November of last year, Hayakawa, Mito and other Sumiyoshi-kai members were among 20 arrested for a similar ruse carried out at a bone-setting clinic in Suginami Ward. For that case, Hayakawa introduced roughly 10 comedians affiliated with the Yoshimoto Kogyo agency to participate as fake patients.
Starting in 2009, the ring collected a total of roughly 120 million yen, which police believe was funneled to the Sumiyoshi-kai.
