Photo/Illutration Kiyohiko Toyama, a former lawmaker with junior coalition partner, Komeito, enters the Tokyo District Court on Feb. 14. (Pool)

Former Komeito lawmaker Kiyohiko Toyama admitted to charges in his first hearing at the Tokyo District Court on Feb. 14 that he had illegally helped secure loans for companies while he held public office.

Toyama, 52, was indicted without arrest on charges of illegally arranging government-backed loans and violating the Money Lending Control Law on Dec. 28.

“I profoundly regret the distrust of government that has arisen because of my actions,” he said during the first trial session.

This is believed to be the first case in which a current or former Diet member has faced these charges.

Toyama admitted to Tokyo prosecutors that he received about 10 million yen ($86,600) from companies as fees for intermediating the loans.

According to documents from court and elsewhere, Toyama notified Japan Finance Corp. through two of his state-funded aides about companies and sole proprietors who wanted to secure loans due to the novel coronavirus crisis.

Toyama also informed a company about a person who oversaw the loans at a local Japan Finance branch.

Toyama brokered 82 loans on his own from March 2020 to June 2021, according to the documents.

Toyama had also conspired with Atsushi Maki, 74, who was an adviser to Techno System Co., which is a Yokohama-based company related to the solar power industry, according to the documents. With Maki, who was indicted on the same charge, Toyama had brokered 29 loans without registering from April 2020 to January 2021, the documents said.

Maki, along with Akira Shibuya, 61, a former policy aide to former Komeito Lower House member Masataka Ota, and Yutaka Kawashima, 78, another adviser with Techno System Co., were indicted without arrest.

The three are expected to admit to the charges in the trial.

According to investigative sources, all three, like Toyama, received kickbacks from companies.

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