Hiroo Mizushima, the arrested former chairman of failed department store operator Sogo Co., told police he asked a relative to keep 100 million yen in cash at his home out of "fear (it) might be lost in a fire," police said Saturday.
Mizushima, 89, was arrested Friday night on suspicion of concealing personal wealth to avoid its court-ordered seizure by Sogo creditors.
Police say Mizushima's account is so unnatural that it supports police suspicions that he entrusted the money to the relative to conceal it. He is suspected of concealing 155 million yen in total.