Photo/Illutration Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department investigators search the Gozenbo Roppongi restaurant in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Feb. 5. (Shun Yoshimura)

Tokyo police arrested a 62-year-old Chinese national and another man on Feb. 5 on suspicion of fraud for allegedly obtaining government COVID-19 relief funds illegally, according to investigative sources.

The total amount they are believed to have fraudulently obtained is estimated to reach several hundred million yen, the sources said.

The suspect, a former third secretary at the Chinese Embassy, is currently the president of Toko Co. based in Tokyo's Roppongi district that operates Gozenbo and other Chinese restaurants, according to the sources.

The other suspect is a 28-year-old man who worked as an accountant at the company.

The two are suspected of conspiring to submit 13 phony applications between early November 2020 and late July 2022 for the government’s COVID-19 relief subsidies for workers forced to take leave, illegally obtaining around 3.75 million yen ($24,400).

The Public Security Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department suspects that the former secretary orchestrated the scheme.

On the morning of Feb. 5, investigators searched around 20 locations, including the company’s office and the former secretary’s home, seizing relevant documents.

Police plan to investigate how the fraudulently obtained funds were used.

According to the company’s website, the Chinese national graduated from a university in Wuhan, China, before working at the Chinese Embassy in Japan from 1986 to 1989.

In 1995, he opened Gozenbo in the Roppongi district. He currently operates eight restaurants in Tokyo.

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