A Japanese man and two Chinese men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of taking commissions from the salaries of Chinese nationals whose services they had illegally procured for Japanese hotels and inns, authorities said.

The three procured the services of about 220 Chinese nationals in 35 areas across 13 prefectures , including Hokkaido, Oita, Ishikawa and Tottori, since January 2000, according to police, customs and other authorities.

The three were identified as Kazunori Midorikawa, 58, a former company board member and a resident of Tokyo's Toshima Ward, and Hsiao Wen, 35, and Kao Wei, 44, both of whom are employees of a state-run Chinese firm, the authorities said.

The three allegedly violated Japan's Employment Security Law among other charges, they said.

According to the authorities, Midorikawa passed himself off as a director of an existing foundation, and offered the services of Japanese-speaking Chinese employees at low wages to hotels and inns nationwide.

They are also looking into allegations that Midorikawa and the two Chinese suspects divided among themselves about 100 million yen received in their dealings.

According to investigations, the three procured jobs for 10 Chinese women at hotels in Hokkaido and Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, from April to May 2000.

Investigations allegedly showed that the three had the hotels deduct 50,000 yen per month from the women's salaries and transfer the money to an account in Shenyang, China. The three are believed to have received some 3.4 million yen up until May.

The authorities said the Chinese recruits barely spoke Japanese but obtained resident status in Japan as interpreters. They were then relegated to jobs such as dish-washing. and had to wait for a monthly salary of about 210,000 yen.

Each of the Chinese recruits had to pay 750,000 yen in deposits and administrative fees, the investigators said.