Photo/Illutration Kansai Electric Power Co. officials, including Nozomu Ushiro, center, apologize to Hideo Shimizu, a Fukui prefectural government official in charge of safety and the environment. (Akari Onishi)

Local governments in the Kansai region demanded answers about a money scandal now engulfing Kansai Electric Power Co., while officials of the utility scrambled to various locations to offer apologies.

The company on Sept. 27 admitted that 20 executives received about 320 million ($3 million) in cash, gold bars and other gifts from Eiji Moriyama, a former deputy mayor of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, who died in March at age 90.

Moriyama is said to have been influential in arranging where Kansai Electric located its nuclear power plants, including the one in Takahama.

Kansai Electric officials said they could not refuse the gifts because they wanted to stay on Moriyama’s good side.

However, local governments in the Kansai region said further details about the gifts were needed.

Hiroshi Nakao, an Osaka deputy mayor, met with Kansai Electric officials on Sept. 30 and told them that their explanations and media reports were insufficient in “grasping the facts.”

Nakao said the company should “fulfill its social responsibility in terms of securing transparency and fairness” as a public utility that represents the Kansai region.

As of the end of March, the Osaka city government held a 7.6-percent stake in Kansai Electric, making the municipality the leading shareholder.

Other local government officials were demanding answers about how Moriyama’s gifts affected the utility’s operations.

Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui indicated on Sept. 30 that the city government might submit a shareholders’ lawsuit if it becomes apparent that the assets of Osaka residents had been damaged.

Kansai Electric officials on Sept. 30 visited the Osaka prefectural government to apologize. Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said he told the officials to release all facts related to the matter.

Other Kansai Electric officials visited the Fukui prefectural government office and the Takahama town government building to apologize for last week’s admission.

Sources said Moriyama often met with Kansai Electric officials in charge of its nuclear energy operations and would give them gifts when they were promoted to executive positions.

Some of the executives said they were taken aback at the expensive gifts and tried to return them. However, they said Moriyama would become angry and say he would lose face if they did not accept the gifts.

Many of the executives said they ended up holding on to the gifts at home.

Some of those who did return the gifts would be offered double the amount or value during a subsequent meeting with Moriyama, the sources said.

One reason the executives could not be more forceful about returning the gifts was the situation that arose after the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the sources said.

A subsequent resumption of operations at other nuclear plants required the consent of local government officials, and Kansai Electric executives apparently did not want to do anything that would anger Moriyama and cause delays in the resumption of operations at their own nuclear plants.