Overview
- Shizuoka prefectural police sent Maki Takubo’s case to prosecutors on suspicion of forging and using a sealed private document, judged the Toyo University certificate she showed to city leaders to be fake, and urged strict prosecution.
- Prosecutors now review the file and will decide whether to bring charges.
- Takubo denies wrongdoing and has refused to submit the paper to police, citing a right to refuse seizure, and investigators conducted a home search in February.
- A separate referral in February accused her of giving false testimony to the Ito city council after its Hyakujō committee, a special panel that can investigate officials, said she would not appear or hand over the certificate.
- Reports say she listed Toyo University as a degree despite later being recorded as removed from the school, and sources also describe other complaints that include possible election law violations.