Architect in Japan quake scandal arrested

TOKYO - An architect at the centre of a Japanese scandal over fabricating data on buildings' ability to withstand earthquakes was arrested on Wednesday, media reports said.

A total of eight arrests were expected in connection with the case, in which quake-resistance data was falsified for scores of apartment buildings and hotels, leaving them vulnerable to even moderate tremors and outraging the public in earthquake-prone Japan.

Hidetsugu Aneha, 48, was arrested on suspicion of allowing his name to be used by an architectural designer in planning documents for several buildings.

Three other men, including the president of a construction company, were also arrested for their involvement.

Media reports said the men were arrested on charges not directly related to the scandal in hopes of probing more deeply into the case.

Aneha, who was later stripped of his architect's licence, admitted last year to falsifying data for nearly 100 apartment buildings and hotels to save costs.

In testimony before parliament last December, he said he had failed to resist pressure to violate laws out of fear that he would lose business, adding that his wife was in poor health.

Aneha's wife was found dead last month next to an apartment building near her home. Media reports quoted police as saying she was thought to have jumped from the building.

Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and memories are still vivid of a 1995 quake that killed more than 6,400 people in the western city of Kobe.

- REUTERS