Akimoto under arrest as casino bribery scandal hots up

Akimoto has denied all charges and believes the alleged payments have been accounted for by his secretary.

Japan.- After the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Office obtained a fresh arrest warrant for Tsukasa Akimoto earlier this week, the House Representative has now been re-arrested.

He is accused of having received more than 13,000 dollars’ worth of bribes and travel expenses from online casino operator 500.com including flying by private jet to Macau December 2017 when he visited a casino.

The accusations come on top of a previously alleged 18,000 dollars he received for giving a lecture at a symposium hosted by the firm in Okinawa in September of that year, paid to him via a consultancy company established in Tokyo by the former Policy Secretary.

The firm was hoping to participate in the construction of a casino in Hokkaido and asked the lawmaker to deliver a speech at a related symposium in Naha, the Japan Times reported.

Akimoto, who was first arrested on 25 December, was arrested again on Tuesday along with Masahiko Konno and Katsunori Nakazato, former advisors to 500.com, and Zheng Xi, a former executive of the firm’s Japanese arm.

Prosecutors also indicted without arrest Kimihito Kamori, the Chairman of a Sapporo-based tourist agency that is accused of inviting Akimoto and his family to Hokkaido in February 2019.

According to lawyers, Akimoto has denied all charges and believes this payment was accounted for by his secretary.