An Indonesian business partner of a Japanese COVID-19 subsidy fraud suspect said Thursday he felt sorry and shocked over the man's sudden arrest earlier this week.
The arrest of Mitsuhiro Taniguchi, who is suspected of swindling hundreds of millions of yen from a Japanese subsidy program for small companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, has destroyed the hopes of continued fish farming in the village of Sri Dadi in Indonesia's Lampung Province, according to Masduki, his business partner.
Masduki, 43, who is also a teacher, said he knew Taniguchi as a "bona fide investor" economically supporting him and other freshwater fish farmers in the village.