CHIBA (Kyodo) Koichi Hamada, a former Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of breach of trust for allegedly causing ¥200 million worth of financial damage to a corporation, police said.
Hamada, 81, allegedly sold stockholdings in 2006 he had put up as collateral to borrow money from the company, which is based in the city of Chiba, the police said.
He has refused to respond to questioning by police, they said.
Born in 1928 in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, Hamada won a seat in the 1969 general election for the Lower House after serving as a member of the Futtsu municipal and Chiba prefectural assemblies. He was returned to the Lower House six times.
Nicknamed "Hamako," he served in the chamber from 1969 through 1993. Hamada once chaired the Lower House Budget Committee and headed the LDP's public relations committee.
LDP Lower House member Yasukazu Hamada is his son. The younger Hamada served as defense minister in the Cabinet of Taro Aso, who was prime minister from September 2008 to last September.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison a fine of up to ¥500,000.