Sho Taguchi, a 24-year-old unemployed resident of Abu, in the Yamaguchi Prefecture of Japan, was arrested last week after he allegedly refused to repay COVID relief funds transferred to him by mistake.
The money was intended to be distributed to 463 low-income households in Abu. Each family was to receive 100,000 yen ($780).
On April 6, after completing processes to send the 100,000 yen in COVID-19 relief money to the 463 families, a town official mistakenly made a single transfer request to a financial institution for the man whose name was at the top of the list, which happened to be Taguchi.
Moreover, the official accidentally transferred 10 times the amount intended to be disbursed among the families to Taguchi alone.
According to Taguchi’s lawyer, the town government sent 46.3 million yen ($360,000) to his account on April 8.
His client refused to refund the money, telling authorities, “It has been removed from my account and cannot be recovered. I will atone for my sins.”
Taguchi was arrested on May 18 for alleged “computer fraud” due to his failure to return the money that was transferred into his account. Authorities also believe that he “illegally profited” from at least 4 million yen of the funds.
The Kyodo News Agency reports that the only money left in Taguchi’s bank account once authorities arrested him was 68,000 yen ($530). Taguchi took cash from his account 34 times in less than 10 days following the error made by the municipality.
The prefecture police revealed that the suspect claimed to have spent the majority of the 46.3 million yen on online gambling.
However, Taguchi’s lawyer said during a news appearance that Taguchi admitted he had moved the money out of his account using his smartphone. According to the lawyer, Taguchi lives alone, and no one else is a suspect in the case.
Taguchi’s legal representative said his client dispensed 46.33 million yen across 34 transactions, with the majority going to three domestic payment processing agents. Taguchi sent about 35.92 million yen to a single firm via 27 transfers.
The town of Abu sued the man for roughly 51 million yen on Thursday, May 19, demanding the complete return of the funds plus legal fees.
At a press conference on Tuesday, May 24, Abu Mayor Norihiko Hanada said the town had recovered 43 million yen, about 90% of the missing funds. Over 35 million of that amount was returned by a domestic processing agent that had received the funds from Taguchi.
“The origin of the case was an error by a town clerk,” Mayor Hanada said at the news conference, apologizing to local residents.
The lawsuit against Taguchi for the remaining amount transferred to him, plus legal fees, together totaling 51.15 million yen, is still pending.