Tokyo - A Japanese civil servant used his office to falsely register his "marriage" to a longed-for colleague who had no idea she was no longer single in the eyes of law.
The 30-year-old official at the city hall of Kumamoto, western Japan, submitted the false document last December to register his marriage to a 21-year-old colleague without her knowledge, a city hall spokesman said.
The woman discovered in early January that she was married to the man, whom she barely knew, on paper as the city immediately accepted the document, the spokesman said. She fought back several days later, saying the man had never even dated her, let alone proposed marriage. The spokesman said the official allegedly created the false document by secretly looking at the woman's census register, which only city hall officials could see. - (AFP)