IWAKI, Japan, Aug.
29 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Police said Sunday they had arrested the
70-year-old daughter of a woman registered as 102 years old but
most likely dead, for allegedly defrauding the city
of Iwaki,Fukushima
Prefecture of 300,000 yen in special benefits payable to her
mother if she were alive.
Aiko Watanabe, the fifth daughter of Michi Watanabe, turned
herself in and was arrested Saturday after skeletal remains were
found at their home. She told investigators that her mother died in
about 1996 but she received the money and used it for
her living
expenses, they said.
The police believe that the remains are those of Michi Watanabe,
given her daughter's account and autopsy results indicating she
died more than five years ago, and are now investigating if the
suspect also falsely received her pension
benefits.
Based on the suspect's allegedly false response to an inquiry
about elderly people, the city paid the benefits for her mother's
centenary in September 2007, according to the police.
The office lost contact with her on Aug. 19 after trying to
confirm the presence of her mother following revelations that
several centenarians are unaccounted for in other parts of
Japan.