{"id":168648,"date":"2025-02-04T10:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T01:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=168648&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-02-04T10:20:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T01:20:58","slug":"former-kurume-company-president-arrested-covid-19-subsidy-fraud","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/former-kurume-company-president-arrested-covid-19-subsidy-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Kurume Company President and Four Others Arrested for COVID-19 Subsidy Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The former president of a company operating wedding venues in Kurume City and four others have been arrested on suspicion of fraudulently receiving over \u00a520 million in COVID-19 relief subsidies. Police suspect the company repeatedly engaged in fraudulent claims, as it had received a total of \u00a51 billion in subsidies over three years during the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The arrested individuals include the former president of Arcadia, a Kurume-based company, and a former director.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Investigators allege that in December 2022, the five individuals inflated the number of furlough days for 97 out of 104 employees when applying for Japan\u2019s Employment Adjustment Subsidy, fraudulently obtaining approximately \u00a522 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Authorities are now examining whether similar fraudulent claims were made throughout the three-year period. Police have not disclosed the suspects\u2019 statements due to the ongoing investigation. Cases of COVID-19 subsidy fraud have been increasing nationwide, prompting the Fukuoka Labor Bureau to strengthen countermeasures, including publicizing the names of businesses involved.<\/span><b> Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20250203\/5010026986.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20250203\/5010026986.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-168640\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_covid-fraud-kurume_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C801&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Former Kurume Company President and Four Others Arrested for COVID-19 Subsidy Fraud\" width=\"1400\" height=\"801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_covid-fraud-kurume_2025_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_covid-fraud-kurume_2025_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C172&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_covid-fraud-kurume_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C586&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_covid-fraud-kurume_2025_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C439&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former president of a company operating wedding venues in Kurume City and four others have been arrested on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":168645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-168648","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-kurume","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/168648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}