AICHI (TR) – Aichi Prefectural Police have raided the Nagoya branch of the Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) following the arrest of a former employee in a major bribery scandal involving a luxury wristwatch, reports TBS News (July 25).
Takahiro Matsuda, a 35-year-old former loan officer, is suspected of accepting a watch valued at 9.2 million yen from the representative director of an apparel company in 2021.
In exchange for the extravagant gift, Matsuda allegedly provided favorable treatment to the clothing company, which included inflating the amount of financing granted to the business. At the time of the incident, Matsuda was in a position to draft loan approval documents for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Because the JFC is a government-affiliated financial institution, its employees are legally classified as “quasi-public servants.” This designation makes them subject to the same strict bribery and corruption laws as standard government officials.
Aichi police are currently analyzing materials seized during the raid to uncover the full extent of the corrupt relationship and the circumstances leading up to the bribe.
In response to the scandal, the JFC has announced the establishment of a special investigative committee composed of external lawyers to conduct an independent probe into the matter.
