Photo/Illutration Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

OSAKA--Kansai Electric Power Co. came under blistering criticism March 14 by a third-party committee investigating the massive influence a local government official exerted on company decisions for more than 30 years.

The committee was looking into the collusive ties between Kansai Electric and the late Eiji Moriyama, who served as deputy mayor of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, and was instrumental in the siting of a nuclear plant there operated by the utility.

The report said that 75 officials at Kansai Electric reaped gifts from Moriyama totaling about 360 million yen ($3.3 million) over the period.

With the release of the report, Shigeki Iwane will step down as company president and be replaced by Takashi Morimoto, an executive vice president.

The report found that in exchange for the gifts to various Kansai Electric executives and other officials, the company acceded to requests from Moriyama for contracted work to companies with which he was affiliated.

The report concluded that “an abnormal relationship” between Kansai Electric and Moriyama continued for more than three decades. Not only was this clearly a violation of legal compliance but also an “extremely serious and deep-rooted” situation in terms of corporate governance, the report stated.

It said Moriyama began distributing the gifts from soon after he stepped down as deputy mayor in 1987. He continued the practice until the 2010s.

While many of those targeted by Moriyama's largesse worked in Kansai Electric’s nuclear power sector, the number of recipients and the amount of the gifts soared after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011. The nuclear disaster led to stricter safety standards that forced Kansai Electric to undertake additional construction work to meet the tougher standards.

The report said Moriyama presented the gifts to make the utility feel obliged to commission construction projects to the companies he worked for. In this way, he was able to continue receiving remuneration from the companies for the increased number of contracts.

The report said Kansai Electric executives at times promised to contract construction work to companies tied to Moriyama and sent the work his way.

Those practices damaged Kansai Electric’s interests since they distorted the transparency with which the utility contracted construction work, the report concluded.

The four-member committee was chaired by Keiichi Tadaki, a former prosecutor.

When Kansai Electric conducted an internal investigation in 2018, it only covered those who had served in executive positions for the seven previous years. At that time, it put the monetary value of the gifts at 320 million yen.

However, the third-party committee reviewed matters over 30 years, revealing a much wider web of collusive relationship.

Before releasing the latest report, Naoki Naito, a managing executive officer, submitted the findings to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo.

According to those who attended that meeting, Yoshifumi Murase, director-general of the ministry's Electricity and Gas Industry Department, said, “We will thoroughly go through the report as soon as possible in order to deal appropriately with the matter.”

No specific disciplinary measures against Kansai Electric were raised at the meeting, the sources said.

Naito met with reporters after the meeting and offered his apology to customers and the general public.

He pledged that the company would take the report seriously and work to reform the company to prevent a recurrence.