Neyagawa City, Osaka Prefecture City Council member Mika Yoshiba (吉羽美華) is a sponsor of RIZIN FF and she was recently arrested on suspicion of fraudulent use of COVID-19 relief funds. Five people, including Yoshiba, are suspected of stealing millions of Japanese Yen from the Coronovirus relief loan system which was intended for public use. Some have reported that Yoshiba herself turned the fraudulent members into the police, but incriminated herself in doing so, thus getting herself and others arrested. Yoshiba is also under suspicion of having an affair with RIZIN fighter Chihiro Suzuki.
Yomiuri writes:
“Mika Yoshiba, a 42-year-old member of the Neyagawa City Council in Osaka Prefecture, were arrested by the Fukuoka Prefectural Police on suspicion of fraud over the public loan system amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.”
Yomiuri continues:
“Five men and women were arrested on suspicion of fraud. Prefectural police believe that out of more than 3 billion yen in loans received by welfare facilities and medical corporations in Osaka and Fukuoka prefectures, more than 1 billion yen went into Yoshiba’s hands.”
Yoshiba is a major sponsor of RIZIN FF, the Japanese MMA organization. According to Puddlesocial, the city council member covered most of the cost of the RIZIN TRIGGER 1 event which took place in November of 2021. Some have suspected that the stolen Coronovirus relief funds went to sponsoring RIZIN.
Many have also speculated that the married Yoshiba was living with and having an affair with RIZIN fighter Chihiro Suzuki. Suzuki fought on the Yoshiba sponsored RIZIN TRIGGER event and has since become a headlining fighter for the organization. 鈴木千裕 Chihiro Suzuki is a 23-year-old kickboxer and MMA fighter, while Mika Yoshiba is 42 and married.
Some suspect that Yoshiba also had a RIZIN Girl audition under the name ‘Nitoru,’ however this is unconfirmed. Yoshiba was first elected in 2007 to the city council position. She had tried to run in national level politics but was unsuccessful in her bid. No further updates to the story are currently available.
Yahoo writes:
“After being re-elected to the city council in 2011, she aimed to switch to national politics, but was repeatedly defeated. In the 2012 House of Representatives election, she ran for the 1st district in Osaka from the Democratic Party (democratic party), and in the 2013 House of Councilors election, she ran for the Osaka constituency from the New Party Daichi. After losing the 2016 mayoral election for Hannan, Osaka Prefecture, as an independent, she ran for the Tokyo 24th Ward in the 2017 House of Representatives election for the Party of Hope. In 2019, she returned to the Neyagawa City Council, but one city councilor said, “It was like a ‘migratory bird’ running for elections here and there.”
Newsdig added:
“According to the police, Yoshiba gave the business card of the lawmaker to make the facility trust him. The police are investigating that the five people also offered financial intermediation to medical institutions in Fukuoka, etc., and defrauded them for a total of billions of yen.”
Featured Image Credit Courtesy of Puddlesocial.
