A company executive recently arrested in connection with a scandal involving a casino resort claims he knows that House of Representatives member Tsukasa Akimoto was involved in bribing a witness, according to sources close to the case.
The executive, Akihito Awaji, was arrested on Aug. 4 on suspicion of violating the section of the organized crime law that prohibits bribing witnesses, in the case surrounding an integrated resort project with a casino as its central attraction.
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office will soon question Akimoto to clarify what really happened.
Akimoto, 48, was indicted on charges of accepting bribes worth about 7.6 million yen between September 2017 and February 2018, when he was state minister for integrated resorts at the Cabinet Office, from Masahiko Konno, a former adviser to the Chinese company 500.com, among other people. The bribe includes 3 million yen in cash they offered Akimoto at the lower house members' office building.
Although Konno and others are believed to have begun admitting to the charges, Akimoto has denied all of them.
Awaji, 54, was arrested for conspiring with company executive Fumihiko Sato, 50, to propose to Konno payment of 10 million yen to 20 million yen in cash between June and July, as a reward for lying in testimony given at a trial for Akimoto's case. According to sources close to the case, they allegedly asked Konno to testify at the trial that he did not meet Akimoto at the lower house members' office building.
According to the sources, Awaji has begun making a statement about the case to special squad members, saying, "Akimoto asked me to do so."
Akimoto told The Yomiuri Shimbun that Awaji was one of his supporters and that he dined with Awaji together with other people after being released on bail in February.
Akimoto denied any involvement in the suborning case, saying he had never asked someone to bribe a witness or been approached by someone to do so.
People detained in the witness bribing case also include company executive Kazuhiro Miyatake, 49, who was arrested on suspicion of asking Katsunori Nakazato, a former 500.com adviser indicted for bribery, for several million yen in cash as a reward for giving false testimony.
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