Police arrested a former Daihatsu Motor Co. sales representative Wednesday for allegedly embezzling about 10.4 million yen in proceeds from the sale of 15 minivehicles.
Jun Tanaka, 35, was fired in January 2002 from Daihatsu's Tokyo office after an in-house investigation uncovered the scam.
Police said Tanaka asked a firm to deposit advance payments for its purchase of the minivehicles in a bank account operated by Daihatsu's sales unit in Chiba Prefecture between November and December 1999.
Tanaka then asked an official of the sales unit to withdraw the money, telling him that he would transmit the deposits to the head office. But Tanaka allegedly pocketed the cash instead.
Police officials said there are similar suspicions regarding the sale of more than 100 vehicles. They said they believe Tanaka repeatedly embezzled the proceeds in those cases as well.