Thai police: Japanese man faked death for millions
BANGKOK – A Japanese man accused of forging his own death certificate to collect millions of dollars in insurance payments is being held in Thailand on an immigration violation pending other possible charges, Thai police said Friday.
Arrested in his Thai girlfriend’s apartment Thursday, Ichiro Ogushi, 35, had been on the run since immigration authorities discovered that a death certificate presented to the Japanese Embassy was counterfeited, said police Maj. Gen. Pongdech Chaiyaprawat.
According to the police account, after his trading company in Japan ran into financial difficulties, Ogushi and his colleagues decided to fake his death for insurance compensation worth about 500 million yen (about $5.8 million).
