Indonesia to deport Japanese man accused of role in US$90 million investment fraud

BATAM: Indonesian authorities said on Tuesday (March 12) that a Japanese man accused of helping run a US$90 million investment scam will be sent home after four years on the run.

Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, head of the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s provincial office, said Yusuke Yamazaki, 43, was arrested on Jan. 31 off Bulan island in Kepulauan Riau province after he attempted to cross into Malaysia in a small wooden boat. Were staying. He is expected to be deported by the end of the day.

Mataram said the boat was also carrying four undocumented Indonesian migrant workers and two crew. The others were detained by police for further investigation, while Yamazaki was handed over to the immigration office in Batam on 2 February.

Yamazaki initially gave a false name and was detained on suspicion of visa violation, but police later identified him as an international fugitive, Mataram said.

He was an executive at Nishiyama Farms, an Okayama-based company that ran farm tours across Japan and closed in February 2019 amid fraud allegations. Five people linked to Nishiyama Farms were arrested in October 2021 on suspected fraud of approximately 13.3 billion yen (US). $90 million) and later pleaded guilty, but according to Japanese media reports, Yamazaki left Japan for Hong Kong in February 2020.

Aichi Prefectural Police listed Yamazaki as a fugitive on an Interpol Blue Notice in 2022. Mataram said Yamazaki was believed to have reached Indonesia via Turkey in April next year.

“Further legal procedures on their transfer to Japan will be handled by the Japanese government,” Batam immigration office head Samuel Toba told a news conference.

He said Japanese police have sent investigators to Indonesia to assist in Yamazaki’s deportation, who will be flown to Jakarta in the afternoon before being put on a Japan Airlines overnight flight to Tokyo.

In a lawsuit filed by 41 investors in Tokyo and four other prefectures seeking compensation from Yamazaki and others, the Nagoya District Court ordered the defendants to pay about 320 million yen (about US$2.2 million) in February 2022.