MP accused of accepting casino bribes

TOKYO: A ruling party lawmaker, who is a proponent of casino resorts in Japan, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of receiving 3.7 million yen (1 million baht) in bribes from a Chinese gambling operator.

The arrest of Tsukasa Akimoto, a 48-year-old member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, has cast a cloud over the government’s policy to promote casinos to buoy the economy, with opposition forces set to present a bill to parliament next year that would ban casino operations.

Mr Akimoto has denied doing any favours for the Chinese company, 500. com Ltd, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In late September 2017, the lawmaker is suspected to have received 3 million yen in cash from the Chinese company in Tokyo.

In mid-February 2018, Mr Akimoto travelled to Hokkaido at the invitation of the Chinese firm and expenses for the trip amounting to about 700,000 yen were allegedly provided by the company, according to the prosecutors.

Tokyo prosecutors also arrested three people related to the company on suspicion of bribing the House of Representatives lawmaker, who resigned from the LDP following his arrest.

The last arrest of a Japanese lawmaker occurred in 2010. The arrest of Mr Akimoto is the latest in a series of money and gift-giving scandals linked to the Abe administration, which forced two cabinet ministers to resign earlier this year.

A vocal supporter of the introduction of casino resorts in Japan, Mr Akimoto told Kyodo News yesterday that the allegations were “groundless”. He also said in a Twitter post in the morning, “I have never been involved in wrongdoing at all. I will continue to assert that.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the allegations.