The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Wednesday arrested a former senior official of Maruha Corp., Japan's seafood industry leader, on suspicion of tax evasion, prosecutors said.

Manabu Atsumi, 51, a former general manager of the Tokyo-based marine product company's second fisheries department, is alleged to have evaded taxes by making false declarations over the country of origin of imported octopuses.

Prosecutors also arrested two other Maruha employees -- Yutaka Maeyasui, 45, and Hiroshi Otsuka, a 50-year-old Japanese-Brazilian who used to head Maruha's office in the Canary Islands -- on the same charge.