OSAKA -- The arrest of Mitsuru Asada, vice chairman of the Osaka Prefecture Meat Cooperative Association, has sent shock waves through Osaka's political community and has put Osaka Gov. Fusae Ohta, who admits having met Asada on several occasions, on the defensive.

Asada, a former chairman of Osaka-based meat wholesaler Hannan Corp., was arrested Saturday on suspicion of fraud.

He is thought to have falsely labeled imported meat as domestic produce in an effort to claim money from a government buyback scheme introduced after a domestic case of mad cow disease was discovered in September 2001.