A 28-year-old former employee of the Bank of Kochi's Aki branch in Kochi Prefecture embezzled some 160 million yen from customers, bank officials said Wednesday.
The bank fired the employee Tuesday after the case was discovered in an in-house investigation, the officials said.
According to the investigation, the man, who was in charge of customer services, embezzled from customers' deposits and loan repayments on about 70 occasions, starting in November last year.
Police said they are questioning the man, who turned himself in to police Tuesday evening, on suspicion of embezzlement in the conduct of business.
The man has told investigators he embezzled the money to fund his gambling, police said.