NHK has learned that a former counselor at the Embassy of Singapore in Japan has returned to Tokyo to respond to voluntary questioning over allegations that he secretly filmed a naked teen at a public bath in the capital.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department plans to send papers on the case to prosecutors as early as Thursday on suspicion of violations of laws banning child pornography and others.
Investigative sources say the 55-year-old former diplomat allegedly shot video of a boy and others with a smartphone in a bathhouse changing room in February. The man was working at the embassy at that time.
Police rushed to the scene after receiving a call from a bathhouse employee. During questioning, the man reportedly admitted to filming the video, but refused officers’ request to voluntarily accompany them to the police station or submit his smartphone, citing his diplomatic immunity from arrest.
He returned to Singapore in April.
Sources say Tokyo police asked the man to turn himself in through Japan’s Foreign Ministry in May. He reportedly agreed to the request and came to Japan this month.
Diplomats are exempt from being prosecuted in their host country. The sources say the man arrived in Japan after being removed from his post and losing his diplomatic immunity.
The former counselor reportedly told investigators during questioning that he filmed the video to watch it later by himself, and that he had no intention of targeting children.
Investigative sources say it is unusual for a diplomat to return to a host country to respond to police questioning over alleged misconduct while working there.