Yamanashi mayor arrested over illicit staff hiring

August 7, 2017

TOKYO- Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department arrested Yamanashi Mayor Seiki Mochizuki on Monday on suspicion of involvement in illicitly hiring a city employee.

The 70-year-old mayor of the central Japan city is suspected of falsifying official documents to help a specific individual pass the city's employment examinations, informed sources said.

Mochizuki admitted the accusation, the sources said.

Last month, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Mochizuki's 61-year-old former wife, Harumi, for swindling a man out of some 376 million yen in cash. Mochizuki denied any role in the fraud case. Jiji Press