TOKYO: Two Nepali nationals have been arrested in Japan on suspicion of fraudulently applying for and receiving government loans designed to help workers get through the coronavirus pandemic.
The two Nepalis have been arrested on suspicion of fraud for applying for loans from the Tokyo Council of Social Welfare.
An official of the Metropolitan Police Department’s organized crime division told the Mainichi newspaper that the two men had claimed in their applications that their monthly incomes had fallen to zero, even though they were still earning around 200,000 yen (US$1,896) a month from their jobs in a restaurant.
The illegal applications were discovered when the men were questioned over violations of immigration law, with one of the men quoted as telling investigators that he had “no intention of repaying the money”.
Emergency loans were introduced for households that have seen their incomes decline dramatically as a result of the coronavirus crisis, with the interest-free loans available for periods of up to 10 years and ranging from 200,000 yen to 600,000 yen.
“I was contacted by someone that I knew at senior high school who said I could make easy money,” said a second-year university student from Kawasaki city, south of Tokyo.
“I’ve lost my part-time job in a restaurant and I need money to pay my university fees, so I said I was interested,” said the student, who declined to be named”, SCMP quoted
The student, who was still living at home as a dependent, was sent an application form to complete and a tax declaration and instructed to falsely state that he was earning nothing and was unable to support his household. The 21-year-old student said he became more suspicious when he was told that 20 per cent of the total he received needed to be handed over to the person who had initially approached him as a “handling fee”.
The student telephoned the city hall to inquire about the details of the loan scheme and confirmed that what he was being encouraged to do was illegal.
The loans are worth a total of 36 million yen, while seven more people have already returned 4 million yen. Police have not said whether they plan to prosecute those who filed false applications, apparently in the hopes that more people will come forward to return payments.
Between late March and September 26, local governments provided 1.13 million loans worth a total of 3.38 billion yen to those in need of support.
(with inputs from Agencies)
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