A former Japanese senior prosecutor has been arrested on charges of fraud after he bought the headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang group Chongryon, an association of ethnic Koreans in Japan.

Two real estate agents who arranged the deal for the Chongryon headquarters building and land were also arrested on the same charges.

Tokyo prosecutors said that Shigetake Ogata, a former prosecutor who had also headed Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency, registered ownership of the property through a dummy company for which he is listed as president. But they allege that he has no intent to pay the sale price of three-point-five billion yen.

He is suspected of illegally taking 484 million yen from the deal, capitalizing on Chongryon's desire to avoid the seizure of its headquarters by Japanese authorities.

Chongryon had tried to quickly sell off the building after receiving a local court order to repay its outstanding debt of 62-point-seven billion yen to Japan’s Resolution and Collection Corporation (RCC.)