Ex-Saudi diplomat investigated for allegedly groping woman at Tokyo nightclub

A former Saudi Arabian diplomat was referred to prosecutors on Friday for allegedly touching a woman’s breasts at a nightclub in Tokyo earlier this year, investigative sources said.

The man in his 30s, who was posted to the Saudi Arabian embassy at the time, has already returned to his country without responding to requests by police to appear for questioning, the sources said.

He is suspected of touching the breasts of the woman in her 20s over her clothes at the club in Roppongi around 2:50am on July 15 in violation of Tokyo’s nuisance prevention ordinance, according to the sources. The two did not know each other.

The woman then called the police, and the man told officers who arrived at the scene that he only touched her arms. He agreed to accompany the officers for questioning but later identified himself as a diplomat and left, the sources said.

In October, the police requested the Saudi embassy twice through the Japanese foreign ministry and others to have the man appear for questioning. But he did not respond and returned to Saudi Arabia in November.

At the time, he had immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which grants diplomats exemption from arrest.