The
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested Hirokazu Inatomi, 63, a
former chairman of Inaho Co-operative Union based in Shimotsuma, Ibaraki Prefecture,
as he allegedly assisted in the violation of the Immigration Control
and Refugee Recognition Law. Inatomi is also suspected of skimming part
of the wages of the Cambodian workers for which he helped illegally
obtain intern visas into Japan – around 60,000 yen (approx. $644) every
month from each individual – including money that he said he would send
to their families in Cambodia.
Inatomi is believed to have helped Cambodian
immigrants who have worked as trainees in Japan to re-enter the country
using fake names under the foreign technical intern system. Foreigners
are permitted to work under the system only once, and the MPD is
investigating allegations that Inatomi instructed the Cambodians to
obtain fake credentials and re-enter Japan again as trainees. Inatomi
has denied his involvement in the case, saying, “I instructed them to
apply for a change of visa status but never knew they entered the
country illegally.”
According to a company in Toyama Prefecture that employed eight
workers from the Inatomi’s union, the Cambodians’ bank accounts to which
their salaries were deposited was being managed by the union. From the
workers’ wages, a total of 60,000 yen were withdrawn every month –
30,000 yen ($3220) for alleged remittances home and another 30,000 yen ($3,220) for the
union’s Japanese language school in which they studied Japanese for free
before coming to Japan. The MPD
suspects that the amount of money extracted from around 500 Cambodian
trainees since 2003 totals to about 400 million yen ($4.3 million), and
that the union had stolen part of the funds.
[ via Kyodo ]
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