Police on Wednesday arrested the president and a former employee of failed travel agency Tellmeclub, which offered budget overseas tours, on suspicion of defrauding a bank of about ¥200 million ($1.76 million) in loans by window-dressing earnings data.
The travel agency, headed by 67-year-old Chikako Yamada, filed for bankruptcy in late March with debts of close to ¥15.1 billion, after collecting roughly ¥9.9 billion in advance payments from between 80,000 to 90,000 customers across Japan.
Yamada and Toshiyuki Sasai, 36, who was in charge of accounting, admitted to the allegations, which included the forging of earnings statements presented to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. between June and September 2016, according to the police.