Ex-Takenaka aide collared for stealing wallet, watch

Staff reportqq Yoichi Takahashi, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat and close aide to former economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka, was apprehended by police Monday on suspicion of stealing money and a luxury watch at a hot spring facility in Tokyo.

Now a professor at Toyo University in Tokyo, Takahashi promoted postal privatization as a Cabinet Secretariat counselor in 2006. He retired from the post in March 2008.

Police sent the case to prosecutors but didn't arrest the 53-year-old Takahashi, saying there was no fear of his destroying the evidence.

Takahashi was questioned after footage from a security camera at the hot spring facility attached to the Toshimaen amusement park identified him as the suspect and he admitted to the allegation, the police said.

He was quoted as saying he stole the items "because I was interested in the kind of person who owns a luxury watch."

He allegedly stole the wallet containing about ¥50,000 in cash, the luxury watch and other items belonging to a 67-year-old man from an unlocked locker at around 8 p.m. Tuesday

The total value of the items, including the cash, came to around ¥300,000, the police said.

An employee in Toyo University's public affairs section said the university received an e-mail from Takahashi confirming that his case was sent to prosecutors. The university had no other details, the employee said.