Family of '111-year-old' accused of fraud after man discovered to have died 30 years ago

Van Sun August 24, 2010
TOKYO - Family members of a Japanese man who was thought to be 111 years old until police found his mummified corpse face a criminal complaint for pension fraud, local media said Tuesday. A mutual aid society filed the complaint, according to Jiji Press, after officials discovered the alleged fraud when they went to visit Sogen Kato in Tokyo on his 111th birthday and instead found his 30-year-old remains. Police are investigating the late Kato's relatives — who claimed he had retreated to his room to become "a living Buddha" — for fraud because the aid association had kept paying a pension into the man's bank account. A total of 9.5 million yen (109,000 dollars) in widower's pension payments had been deposited since his wife died six years ago, and some of the money had recently been withdrawn, reports said. The discovery of Kato's case has led local government officials to fan out for face-to-face meetings with people registered as aged over 100, with at least 200 centenarians since found to be missing. Fast-greying Japan, with its world-beating life expectancies, had more than 40,000 centenarians at last count.