Wife of Japan quake scandal architect found dead

TOKYO, Mar 28 (Reuters) The wife of a Japanese architect at the centre of a scandal over fabricating data on buildings' earthquake resistance was found dead today in a suspected suicide, Japanese media said.

The body of the 49-year-old wife of architect Hidetsugu Aneha was found in a car parked next to an apartment building today morning by a man preparing to go to work, Kyodo news agency said3.

Her given name was not mentioned in the report.

The car's sunroof was broken and police were quoted as saying it was thought the woman jumped from the building, which is not far from her home in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.

A police spokesman confirmed that the body of a 49-year-old woman had been found in such circumstances but declined to give further information.

Aneha admitted late last year that he had fabricated data for nearly 100 apartment buildings and hotels to save costs, leaving some of the structures vulnerable to even moderate quakes.

The scandal outraged the public in earthquake-prone Japan, where mem3ories are still vivid of a 1995 quake that killed more than 6,400 people in the western 3city of Kobe.

REUTERS DKS RK1538