A fired UFJ Bank employee was arrested Thursday on suspicion of pocketing some 3.6 million yen taken out of customers' savings, police said.
Arrested was Toshiharu Iwauchi, 54, of Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, a former employee at the bank's Kisogawa branch in Kisogawa, Aichi Prefecture.
Iwauchi may have embezzled some 30 million yen from the accounts of 23 people between 2000 and 2001 in the course of business operations, police suspect, alleging, for example, that he skimmed a portion of clients' money that was returned to them whenever they sought to change the name of their accounts.
In September, a 53-year-old woman in Hashima, Gifu Prefecture, requested a change in the name of a time deposit account. According to police, Iwauchi then temporarily canceled the account and withdrew about 2.1 million yen that was in it, pocketing some 1.6 million yen in the process.
Similarly, he is also suspected of embezzling a total of 2 million yen in October from two customers residing in Gifu Prefecture.
Iwauchi has admitted to the embezzlement, police said, adding that he said he used the money to cover entertainment expenses.