Three people, including company executives from Kyoto’s Ukyo Ward, were arrested for allegedly converting yen into yuan without authorization and remitting the funds to accounts in China. Police are searching the arrested individuals’ company premises as they continue investigating whether it operated as an underground bank.
Three men and women from Kyoto’s Ukyo Ward were arrested on suspicion of violating the Banking Act by illicitly converting Japanese yen into Chinese yuan. Police have searched the company headed by one of the arrested men to investigate its operations.
The suspects allegedly converted approximately ¥150 million in Japanese yen entrusted to them by multiple foreign nationals into yuan without government authorization and remitted the funds to accounts in China between 2023 and 2024.
The yen is believed to have been used to purchase real estate and fund business operations. Police are investigating whether the 3 suspects operated an underground bank, which is said to conduct foreign-exchange transactions without authorization, to determine the full nature of their activities.
The search is believed to have been aimed at establishing the actual operations of the company run by one of the arrested individuals. Attention is now focused on the progress of the investigation.