The Metropolitan Police Department headquarters (Mainichi/Kenji Yoneda)

       TOKYO -- The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) handed a disciplinary dismissal to a police sergeant who worked at the Tachikawa Police Station's traffic division on Sept. 3 on suspicion that he fraudulently received a subsidy distributed by the government to those who have suffered from a decline in earnings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

       The MPD sent prosecutors papers on the 59-year-old sergeant and his wife in her 60s, and a woman in her 50s whom he had an affair with, as well as her acquaintance in his 80s, on suspicion of coronavirus subsidy fraud. Although such cases are on the rise, it is believed to be the nation's first in which a case has been built against a police officer.

       The four are suspected of applying for a subsidy to offset a decrease in income due to the effects of the coronavirus in late November last year by falsifying paperwork concerning the sergeant's wife, who had been working part-time sorting delivery packages, and claiming she was a housekeeper. They then received a benefit of 1 million yen (roughly $9,107) from the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency the following month.

       According to the MPD, the 59-year-old officer admitted to the allegations by telling the police, "The person I had an affair with told me I should be able to receive the subsidy because my wife was working part time, and I wanted to use the money to supplement my entertainment expenses."

       The sergeant and his wife received 500,000 yen (about $4,554) each, after the man in his 80s submitted the paperwork to apply for the subsidy. The officer is said to have given gifts to the woman he had an affair with using the funds. The money has since been returned.

       Mizutaka Sakai, a counselor at the MPD's police affairs department, said, "It is a very regrettable act that has damaged the credibility of our police force in the eyes of the citizens of Tokyo. We would like to reinforce strict discipline."

       (Japanese original by Atsushi Matsumoto, Tokyo City News Department)

       Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0