MIYAGI (TR) – Miyagi Prefectural Police have arrested an employee of a major developer in a fraud case involving a loan of nearly 50 million yen to a gang boss, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 12).
Police arrested Masakazu Takagi, a 46-year-old employee at the Ishinomaki City office of Sumitomo Realty & Development, as a part of the investigation into a housing loan fraudulently obtained by Yuki Kawajiri, a 54-year-old boss of a gang affiliated with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, and his wife, 55-year-old Tomoko.
Takagi partially denies the charges. “I went through the procedures to borrow the money, but I did not know he was a gangster,” the suspect is quoted by police.
According to Kahoku Shimpo (July 13), a loan for 49.35 million yen for the construction of a new home was taken out with a bank in Sendai City in Tomoko’s name in which she did not acknowledge ties to “anti-social forces,” or organized crime. After submitting the application in June of last year, the couple claimed to be divorced. However, police later realized that they were living together.
In May, police arrested Kawajiri and his wife for in separate case involving the forgery of documents for a move in an office, according to the Kahoku Shimpo (May 26). The next month, Miyagi police raided the headquarters of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in Awaji City, Hyogo Prefecture in search of evidence in the case.
On Tuesday, police conducted raids at three locations in Ishinomaki, including the Sumitomo office, in connection with the fraud case.
A representative of Sumitomo said that the details of the matter were “under investigation.” As well, Takagi has been removed from his position at the firm.
According to police, there are about 1,060 gang members in Miyagi, with the Sumiyoshi-kai (735 members), Yamaguchi-gumi (170) and Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi (75) being the three biggest organizations.
