Japanese pop musician Tetsuya Komuro and two others was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of defrauding about 500 million Japanese yen, or about 5 million dollars, over selling copyright of his songs, the Kyodo News Service reports.

Tetsuya Komuro (R) is taken from his home to the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office in a prosecutor's car on November 4, 2008. [Xinhuanet]

It was alleged that the chart-topping producer sold the rights to 806 of his songs to an investor in Hyogo Prefecture for one billion yen in 2006 and had received a down payment of 500 million yen. A later investigation found Komuro had already assigned the copyright of the songs to a music publisher.

Komuro and the two confederates admitted the allegations, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Komuro, 49, was regarded as the most influential musician in Japan throughout the 1990s. Recently, he was facing financial pressure from both the failure of his overseas investments and his wife's alimony, according to reports.

(CRI November 5, 2008)