Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The lawmaker bribery case that shook the fledgling Integrated Resort (IR) industry has concluded with the central figure, former Senior Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office Tsukasa Akimoto, receiving a four-year prison sentence.
The case surrounded a Shenzhen-based, New York Stock Exchange-listed sports lottery firm then called 500 Dot Com (now renamed BIT Mining Limited and refocused on cryptocurrency), which established a subsidiary in Tokyo in July 2017 for the purpose entering the Japan IR market, first eyeing Okinawa Prefecture and later shifting its attention to Rusutsu village in Hokkaido.
The Chinese company apparently had the idea that the best way to secure one of the IR licenses was to offer direct cash bribes to Japanese politicians. They weren’t entirely wrong, because it turned out that at least half a dozen conservative politicians were willing to accept their bribes.
The recipient of the largest of the bribes—about ¥7.5 million (US$68,000) according to prosecutors—was Akimoto, who served for about a year from September 2017 as the Cabinet Office’s senior official in charge of developing Japan’s IR policy.
Reportedly receiving smaller bribes of ¥1 million (US$9,000) each were Takeshi Iwaya, Toshimitsu Funahashi, Hiroyuki Nakamura, and Masahisa Miyazaki of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party; as well as Mikio Shimoji of the Japan Innovation Party. While two of these politicians later admitted publicly that they had received the 500 Dot Com bribes, they were not charged by prosecutors for unclear reasons.
The prosecutors focused their attention mainly on Akimoto, who they identified as the ringleader, as well as the go-betweens and a prominent businessman in Hokkaido.
Through all the subsequent twists and turns in the case, Akimoto, who has refused to give up his seat in the House of Representatives, even while behind bars, has always insisted on his innocence, even as those who handed him the money and all of those around him admitted guilt.
This week the legal matter ends with Akimoto’s conviction and his four-year prison sentence. The go-betweens mostly received suspended sentences in light of their willingness to admit guilt and cooperate with the prosecutors.
As a political matter the impact will endure. The Japanese public has always been clear that it opposes the development of IRs including casinos mainly because of their concerns about spreading gambling addiction and facilitating crime.
The 500 Dot Com case illustrated in dramatic form that at least some of these public concerns are not misplaced, and that governance within Japan’s political system is open to question when it comes to the billions of dollars expected to circulate through the IR industry.
The conviction of Akimoto is a salutary warning to others what the price of casino-related corruption might be, but the fact that other conservative politicians—including former Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya—were essentially just let off the hook, certainly muddles this law-and-order message.
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