The Metropolitan Police Department on the 4th arrested Tomoharu Koshino, a former representative director of the Electronic Authentication System Council, a general incorporated association, on suspicion of aggravated breach of trust under the General Incorporated Associations Act. Police allege he caused the organization a total of about ¥175 million in losses over payments for equipment used in pachinko parlors, Kyodo News reported.
Aggravated breach of trust — 特別背任 (tokubetsu背任) — is the charge used when a person entrusted with managing an organization's affairs damages it for personal gain or to benefit a third party. The council's name points to its role in electronic certification; the source does not describe its certification work in detail.
The arrest raises the question of who oversees a body that certifies machines used in pachinko, a gambling-adjacent industry. The source does not say what the payments were for beyond the equipment, or who received them.
Koshino's age and address were not given, and the source does not say whether he has admitted or denied the allegations.