BATAM: A Japanese man accused of helping run a US$90 million investment fraud will be repatriated after four years on the run, Indonesian authorities said on Tuesday (12 March).
Indonesian media reported Yusuke Yamazaki, 43, was arrested off Bulan Island in Riau Islands province on January 31, while trying to cross into Malaysia in a small wooden boat.
The ship also carried four undocumented Indonesian migrant workers and two crew members. The others were detained by police for further investigation while Yamazaki was handed over to the Immigration Office in Batam on February 2.
According to the Batam provincial office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Yamazaki is expected to be deported by the end of Tuesday.
BatamNow reported that Yamazaki, who was on the wanted list (DPO), aka an Interpol fugitive, was flown from Batam’s Hang Nadim International Airport to Jakarta, before his flight back to his country.
Yamazaki initially gave a false name and was detained on suspicion of visa violations, but police later identified him as an international fugitive.
Media reported Yamazaki was an executive at Nishiyama Farm, an Okayama-based company that ran farm tours across Japan and went bankrupt amid allegations of fraud in February 2019.
Five people associated with Nishiyama Farm were arrested in October 2021 for alleged fraud worth about 13.3 billion yen (US$90 million) and later convicted, but Yamazaki left Japan for Hong Kong in February 2020, according to Japanese media reports.
Aichi Prefectural Police listed Yamazaki as a fugitive on an Interpol Blue Notice for 2022. The Batam Immigration Office said Yusuke was believed to have arrived in Indonesia via Türkiye in April the following year.
“Further legal processes will be carried out by the Japanese government after he is transferred to Japan,” said the Head of the Batam Immigration Office, Samuel Toba, to the press.
He added that the Japanese Police had sent investigators to Indonesia to assist with Yamazaki’s deportation.
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) by February 2022.