Photo/Illutration Agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa, center, receives a written request from Yoshiki Akita, left, on Nov. 8, 2018, in the minister’s office in Tokyo. Koya Nishikawa, then special adviser to the Cabinet, also attended the meeting. (From a blog of Koya Nishikawa)

The Tokyo District Court on Oct. 6 convicted a former top executive of Akita Foods Co. of bribery and gave him a suspended sentence in a scandal that has embroiled a former agriculture minister.

Yoshiki Akita, 87, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison, suspended for four years.

Prosecutors had sought a 20-month prison sentence.

According to court documents, Akita handed a total of 5 million yen ($44,750) to Takamori Yoshikawa, 70, a former agriculture minister, over three meetings at a hotel and the minister’s office in Tokyo from November 2018 to August 2019.

Akita’s former company is a major egg producer in Hiroshima Prefecture. He asked Yoshikawa to help the poultry industry by ensuring the Japanese government would oppose an international organization’s proposal to improve animal welfare standards to reduce the stress of livestock.

Akita also asked Yoshikawa to make it easier for poultry farmers to receive loans from the government-related Japan Finance Corp.

Prosecutors said in their closing arguments that Akita tried to influence important policies regarding agriculture, forestry and fisheries by bribing Yoshikawa.

Akita had given cash to Yoshikawa even before Yoshikawa became the farm minister. That made Yoshikawa feel less hesitant about receiving bribes, and Akita took advantage, they said.

Defense lawyers for Akita said in their closing arguments that the cash was intended “for the industry and not for personal greed.”

Akita had a relationship with Yoshikawa before he became the farm minister and met him for lobbying and consulting purposes, they said.

“It is hard to say that there was a notable degree of wrongfulness,” they said.

Yoshikawa has admitted that he had received a total of 18 million yen, including the 5 million yen, from Akita during his own trial. But he has denied receiving bribes.

“I understood that the (money) was a political donation,” Yoshikawa said.

(This article was written by Yuji Harada and Kazufumi Kaneko.)

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