Ex-university chancellor arrested over alleged breach of trust

Police arrested a former chancellor of Tokyo Women's Medical University on Monday over alleged breach of trust in relation to transactions over the construction of new school buildings.

Kinuko Iwamoto, 78, is suspected of making the university pay about 117 million yen over 21 occasions to an architect for fictitious consulting work between July 2018 and February 2020. The Metropolitan Police Department has not disclosed whether she has admitted to the allegations.

The police suspect that part of the money may have been channeled back to Iwamoto. She was dismissed as chancellor in last August following a third-party investigation into the school's suspicious transactions.

The probe committee set up by the university concluded in its report the same month that Iwamoto's dominant power within the school organization led to governance failures.

The university said Monday in a statement that it would "fully cooperate with the investigation and do the utmost to prevent a reoccurrence."

In March last year, the police also searched the university and other related locations, including Iwamoto's home, on suspicion the university's alumni association paid salaries from 2020 to people not employed by the institution. Iwamoto chaired the alumni association until April 2023.

© KYODO