BATAM (AP) – A Japanese man accused of helping to run a USD90 million investment scam will be sent home after four years on the run, Indonesian authorities said Tuesday.
Yusuke Yamazaki, 43, was arrested off Bulan island in Kepulauan Riau province on January 31, while attempting to cross into Malaysia in a small wooden boat, said Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, who heads the provincial office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
The boat also carried four undocumented Indonesian migrant workers and two crew, Mataram said. The others were detained by police for further investigation while Yamazaki was handed over to the Immigration Office in Batam on February 2.
Yamazaki initially gave a false name and detained on suspicion of visa violations, Mataram said, but police later identified him as an international fugitive.
He was an executive at Nishiyama Farm, an Okayama-based company that ran farm tours across Japan and collapsed amid allegations of fraud in February 2019. Five people connected to Nishiyama Farm were arrested in October 2021 for suspected fraud worth around JPY13.3 billion (USD90 million) and later convicted, but Yamazaki left Japan for Hong Kong in February 2020, according to Japanese media reports.
