Ito, Shizuoka Pref. ¨C Shizuoka prefectural police have raided the home of former Ito Mayor Maki Takubo, who faces allegations of falsifying her academic background, investigation sources said Saturday.

At the former mayor¡¯s residence, located in an area of the city lined with villas, investigators were seen erecting a curtain with blue tarps 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 p.m.

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 on a voluntary basis 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.