A former president of Japan Wind Growth, at the moment on the heart of a bribery scandal, instructed executives of the agency that he had requested a lawmaker to make a parliamentary assertion in reference to the corporate’s operations, knowledgeable sources stated Saturday.
Masayuki Tsukawaki, 64, despatched an electronic mail to a number of Japan Wind Growth executives saying that he urged Home of Representatives member Masatoshi Akimoto, 48, who was arrested for allegedly receiving bribes, to ask a query within the nation’s parliament a couple of sea space off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, the place the corporate was aiming to start out an influence technology enterprise.
The particular investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Workplace has obtained the e-mail as attainable proof of Akimoto having made statements earlier than lawmakers on the request of Tsukawaki.
Akimoto is suspected of receiving a complete of round ¥60 million in bribes between March 2019 and June this yr from Tsukawaki after the previous president allegedly urged him a number of occasions from February 2019 to make parliamentary statements favorable of the wind energy technology agency.
In line with the sources, Tsukawaki despatched the e-mail in late February 2019 saying that he requested the member of the decrease chamber to ask a query about offshore wind energy technology in Mutsu Bay in Aomori Prefecture.
The request got here after Aomori Prefecture instructed Japan Wind that components of the bay had been unfit for wind energy technology because of attainable interference with Maritime Self-Protection Power drills and plane devices. The corporate had been conducting geological and different surveys in Mutsu Bay in addition to holding briefings for close by residents since 2016.
In a query earlier than the parliament on Feb. 27, 2019, two days after Aomori Prefecture notified the corporate of the problem, Akimoto known as on the federal government to not excessively prohibit offshore wind energy operations on the premise of impacts on protection services.
“If it doesn’t pose a menace to nationwide protection, offshore wind energy must be absolutely developed in Aomori Prefecture,” the lawmaker stated.
In delivering the assertion to lawmakers, Akimoto used a map that Aomori Prefecture had supplied to Japan Wind, which was conducting an environmental affect evaluation on the time.
Akimoto can be believed to have acquired at his workplace an unsecured, interest-free mortgage of ¥30 million from Tsukawaki.
The lawmaker is denying the costs, whereas the previous president has admitted to giving bribes, the sources stated.
