Tokyo prosecutors raided the home and office of Shigetake Ogata on suspicion that he falsified documents involving a 3.5 billion yen (US$28.8 million; ?21.7 million) purchase of the headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, a group of pro-North Korean residents, through a dummy company, Kyodo News agency said.

Ogata, 73, was the former chief of Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency, whose duties included surveillance of North Korean activities in Japan. It has recently emerged that Ogata bought the sprawling Tokyo headquarters property of the North Korean resident group, also known as Chongryong, through an investment company that he runs out of his home.

Prosecutors believe Ogata orchestrated the deal by falsifying documents after being asked by Chongryong lawyer Koken Tsuchiya to help bail the group out of mounting financial problems, Kyodo said. Prosecutors declined to comment on the case.

Japan has been cracking down on Chongryong, which is North Korea's de-facto embassy in Japan, as part of Tokyo's efforts to up pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programs and abductions of Japanese nationals.

In 2005, Japan's government-affiliated Resolution and Collection Corp. filed a lawsuit demanding the association repay 62.8 billion yen (US$527.7 million; ?450.1 million) in bad debts it took over from 16 failed North Korea-linked credit unions.

A ruling is expected next week, and if Chongryong loses the case, it's land and buildings would be seized.

Ogata said Wednesday his purchase was intended to protect the association's property from being seized if the court rules against the association, which serves as the de facto embassy here, to protect the human rights of pro-North residents in Japan, according to Kyodo. About 200,000 pro-Pyongyang residents live in Japan, including many of them who were forcibly brought here during World War II.

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