Ex-Aquarium Director Accused of Fraud Over Rare Tortoises; Facility Allegedly Falsified Reports to Receive Subsidies

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:20 JST, January 23, 2025

Four people, including a former director and an incumbent vice director of the Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo, have been referred to prosecutors for allegedly swindling the central government out of financial support that was meant for the maintenance of endangered Burmese star tortoises.

A total of 23 such tortoises were seized by customs during attempts to smuggle them into Japan. In the period from 1999 to 2003, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry gave the tortoises to the aquarium in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, for them to be cared for.

Burmese star tortoises from Myanmar are designated as an endangered species on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Metropolitan Police Department believes that the aquarium systematically sent false reports to the ministry on how many tortoises it had to conceal the actual situation, including the fact that a former employee of the aquarium transferred some of the tortoises to other people without permission.

The MPD on Thursday referred four people to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office over the matter, on suspicion of fraud.

According to the MPD, the four people allegedly told the ministry that the aquarium was taking care of 10 to 12 such tortoises from October 2018 to November 2022, when it actually had eight to nine. They are suspected of fraudulently obtaining about ¥150,000 in management fees over that period.

All the suspects have admitted to the allegations.

The aquarium allegedly noticed the difference in the numbers being reported to the ministry and that of the tortoises actually kept by the facility around 2013, but false reports continued until April 2022. It was claimed, for example, that some of the tortoises had died of illness.

The former director of the aquarium was quoted as saying that they balanced out the number of the tortoises so that their ability to breed and manage the animal would not be questioned. The total amount of excess fees paid to the aquarium from 2003 was about ¥1.9 million.

In 2003, a former employee of the aquarium transferred 10 Burmese star tortoises to a couple in their 50s in the town of Motobu, Okinawa Prefecture, without permission. The employee claimed the breeding space had become overcrowded.

The MPD believes the false reports began from the time the transfer was made. The wife in the Okinawa couple worked for the aquarium at one point.

The MPD arrested the couple on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the law on the conservation of endangered species of wild fauna and flora. The couple bred the tortoises, increasing their number.

The aquarium said it will fully cooperate in the investigation.