Former third secretary Xu Yaohua of the Chinese Embassy in Japan was arrested on February 5 on suspicion of defrauding the Japanese government’s COVID-19 subsidies.
According to reports from Kyodo News and Asahi Shimbun in Japan, the Public Security Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested 62-year-old Chinese national Xu Yaohua, who operates Chinese restaurants in Roppongi and other areas in Tokyo, and his former employee, 28-year-old Keita Shima, on suspicion of fraud on the 5th.
On the morning of the 5th, the Public Security Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police conducted a surprise search at about 20 locations including the company and the former secretary’s residence, and seized related documents and items.
According to investigators, Xu Yaohua previously served as a third secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Japan before going into business. The two are suspected of submitting false reports for COVID-19 infection absentee subsidies 13 times between November 2020 and August 2022, defrauding the Japanese government of approximately 3.75 million yen (about 176,000 yuan).
The Public Security Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police also suspects that Xu Yaohua instructed the company’s former accountant, Keita Shima, to make false reports.
Police said Xu Yaohua had requested multiple employees to alter attendance records during the epidemic period, pretending to be on leave to fraudulently claim subsidies for payroll, with the amount involved possibly reaching hundreds of millions of yen.
According to the company’s website, Xu Yaohua graduated from Wuhan University in China and worked at the Chinese Embassy in Japan from 1986 to 1989. He started operating the restaurant “Gozan” in Roppongi in 1995, and currently runs a total of 8 restaurants in Tokyo.