Follow-up scoop! Rurei Miura Suspected of Illegally Receiving “Corona Benefits” of about 5.5 Million Yen from Her Husband’s Company

On March 7, Kiyoshi Miura, 43, the husband of Rurei Miura, 42, an international political scientist and the head of investment company Tribay Capital (“Tribay”), was arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzling 420 million yen in business. Meanwhile, this magazine had learned of another “gray business” of the couple.

Tribay, located in Nagatacho, Tokyo, has an office on the first floor of a building close to the National Diet. Kiyoshi’s office can be seen beyond the glass wall facing the street.

There are five such private office spaces secured by partitions. The corner farthest back from the street is occupied by Mr. Rurei. This office also houses the think tank “Wildcat Research Institute” (“Wildcat”), of which Mr. Rurei is the president.

One day in late October 2008, Mr. Kiyoshi came out of his office, and as he walked to Mr. Rurei’s room, he asked one of his employees, “What’s going on?

‘Hey, what’s going on?’

Shortly before this, Tribay had applied to the Small Business Administration for “rent support benefits. This is a government program to support companies whose sales have declined as a result of the spread of the new Corona virus. When Kiyoshi confirmed that the company’s savings account at the Azabu branch of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation had been credited with approximately 5.2 million yen as planned, he gave a thumbs-up and said, “Good job!

Good job! （Good job!

This time, we interviewed several people involved with Tribay. From their testimonies, we learned that Tribay was suspected of fraudulently receiving various Corona benefits provided by the national and local governments.

We found out that the people involved in the case said, “You can manipulate it.

Go get your benefits.”

It was around the beginning of October 2008 that Mr. Kiyoshi sent the instructions to his employees. His first target was the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency’s “rent support benefit. The program provides up to 6 million yen to companies whose monthly sales have decreased by 50% or more compared to the same month of the previous year since May of 2008. However, as of October ’20, Tribay did not meet this condition. The income was expected to be comparable to that of the previous year.

As Mr. Seiji and others were discussing this, Mr. Rurei came out of his office and interrupted them.

We can manipulate sales by shifting them around for a few months. We don’t have to be honest about it.

He then went on to say, “The government is only interested in giving money away.

The government is all about giving money away, isn’t it? The government gives us money for free, so there is no reason not to take it.

It is believed that the benefits were applied for based on these instructions from Mr. and Mrs. Miura. A person involved with Tribay further confides, “Tribay is a company that manipulates the amount of sales.

There are more benefits that Tribay has applied for by manipulating the amount of sales. That is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s ‘Rent and Other Support Benefits.’ In March 2009, the company received approximately 300,000 yen.

Thus, the company may have illegally received at least 5.5 million yen. How do the Miuras respond to the allegations?

On the morning of March 2, we approached Mr. Kiyoshi as he emerged from the back entrance of the office building, but he got into his car without so much as a glance. In the afternoon of the same day, when Mr. Rurei emerged from his office, I called out to him, “This is Friday,” but he only smiled and said, “Yes,” but did not answer my question. The next day, he rang Mr. Rurei’s cell phone.

–Did Mr. Rurei lobby for Tribay to apply for benefits?

He said, “Well, um, I’ve never heard of such an outlandish thing, so, um, please come to the interview through the proper channels. Well, if you’ll excuse me, yes.”

I sent a letter of inquiry to Tribay and Wildcat, but Tribay did not respond within the deadline. Wildcat responded, “(Tribay) is a separate company, so we are not involved, including whether or not they applied for subsidies.

Kiyoshi, who was arrested by the Special Investigation Department, commented, “I will plead not guilty. Rurei, on the other hand, issued a statement in response to her husband’s arrest, saying, “I will continue to support my husband and watch the transition. However, there is a possibility that she will be in the spotlight as a “party to the allegations” regarding the benefits.

From the March 24, 2023 issue of FRIDAY