Tokyo police have arrested Tomohiro Konno, a former member of the House of Representatives for allegedly lending his name as a lawyer to other people and allowing them to do legal work, in violation of the attorney law.
Naoya Tsuji, 51, and nine others were also arrested by Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of using the name of Konno, 48, in violation of the law.
Police did not disclose whether the arrested people have admitted the allegations against them.
Tsuji and others are believed to have collected about ¥500 million in total from around 900 people in 23 prefectures in the name of deposit money to receive compensation for damage from fraud. Police are investigating the case in detail, suspecting that a so-called tokuryu criminal group, characterized by its membership's anonymity and fluidity, may be behind it.
Konno allegedly lent his name between December 2023 and January 2024 and had Tsuji and nine others do legal work to recover special fraud damage for five victims.
According to police, Konno and others used the website of the former lawmaker's office to solicit fraud victims seeking compensation.
Tsuji and others received deposit money ranging from several hundred thousand yen to a few million yen and engaged in the practice of law, such as giving advice and instructions to fraud victims and concluding contracts with lawyers. It is believed that there were virtually no cases of damage recovery.
According to the website and other sources, Konno obtained his lawyer's license in 2003. He ran in the Lower House election in December 2012 as an official candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and was elected for the first time. He served two terms but was defeated in the 2017 Lower House poll and has been active as a lawyer since then.