Japan Tax Official Dismissed for Fraud, Tax Evasion

Tokyo, Aug. 7 (Jiji Press)--Japanese tax authorities on Friday dismissed a 25-year-old official for allegedly defrauding a wealthy elderly woman he was auditing of a large amount of cash and evading taxes on gambling winnings obtained with the stolen money.

The Kantoshinetsu Regional Taxation Bureau slapped Yasunari Matsuo with disciplinary dismissal. Authorities referred the official to prosecutors on suspicion of fraud and filed a criminal complaint for violating the income tax law.

Matsuo reportedly said that he was unable even to make a living because he was addicted to gambling on boat races.

According to the announcement by the office, Matsuo is suspected of defrauding a woman in the city of Saitama of about 850,000 yen between December 2023 and January 2026. He allegedly told the woman that there were additional taxes that needed to be paid, due to an error in a declaration document.

Matsuo also allegedly failed to report some 334 million yen of income in time during the three years through 2025, including winnings from gambling, resulting in tax evasion of about 135 million yen.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]