Shizuoka police raid ousted Ito Mayor's home

At the former mayor's residence, in an area of the city lined with villas, investigators were seen erecting a blue tarp curtain in the garden, likely to shield the scene from public view.
   
About 10 investigators loaded cardboard boxes believed to contain seized materials into a car and left the scene around 2.40 pm.

According to the sources, Takubo denied all four charges against her, including a violation of the public offices election law, when she was questioned by the prefectural police voluntarily on Jan. 29. Later, she also refused to voluntarily submit a diploma, citing her right to refuse seizure.
   
Takubo was elected mayor for the first time in May last year after serving as a city assembly member. Despite initially claiming to have graduated from Toyo University, she announced in July of the same year that she had actually been expelled from the university.
   
At a meeting of the city assembly's special investigation committee, she said, "I learned for the first time on June 28 that I had been expelled," claiming that she did not falsify her educational background. The city assembly chairman and others filed a criminal complaint.

In September last year, she dissolved the city assembly in response to a no-confidence motion against her.

Following the subsequent municipal assembly election, the assembly passed a second no-confidence motion against her, resulting in her removal from office. Three months later, she ran again for mayor but lost.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]