Photo/Illutration Lower House member Masatoshi Akimoto resigned from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Aug. 5. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prosecutors arrested Lower House member Masatoshi Akimoto on Sept. 7 on suspicion of taking 61.46 million yen ($417,000) in bribes over the government's wind farm projects in exchange for favorable questioning in the Diet.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office said Akimoto received requests from Masayuki Tsukawaki, president of Japan Wind Development Co., to ask questions in support of its operations.

Akimoto, 48, left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after the scandal broke. Tsukawaki, 64, has also resigned as president.

In March 2019, Akimoto temporarily borrowed 30 million yen from Tsukawaki to register as a horse owner with the Japan Racing Association, sources said. More than 75 million yen in assets was necessary for registration.

Akimoto formed a horse owners’ union to own racehorses with the Tsukamoto side in autumn 2021. Tsukawaki provided 31.46 million yen as expenses to purchase and raise horses by 2023, sources said.

While 21.46 million yen was sent to accounts of the union and its business partners, the remaining 10 million yen was handed to Akimoto in cash at his office in a Diet members’ building in October 2022.

Prosecutors believe that the horse owners’ union is effectively under Akimoto’s control and the money was provided to Akimoto, sources said.

Prosecutors concluded that the 61.46 million yen in total, including the 30 million Akimoto borrowed, was meant as bribes as a reward for the questions he repeatedly asked in the Diet that were favorable to the company's operations, sources said.

Japan Wind Development is seeking to undertake a wind farm project in Mutsu Bay in Aomori Prefecture.

At a subcommittee session of the Lower House Budget Committee in February 2019, Akimoto called on the government not to impose “excessive restrictions” on power generation facilities in sea areas in Aomori Prefecture due to their impact on defense facilities.

At the Budget Committee's subcommittee session in February 2022, Akimoto called on the government to review screening standards to prioritize the speed of a bidder’s business plan.

In a government wind farm project in another sea area, Japan Wind Development had lost to a consortium led by trading house Mitsubishi Corp., which offered a substantially lower bid.

In voluntary questioning, Akimoto said the money was related to the activities of horse owners and had nothing to do with his questions in the Diet, sources said.

Tsukawaki has admitted that the money was in part a reward for Akimoto’s questions in the Diet, sources said.

Prosecutors are expected to continue to investigate Tsukawaki without arrest on suspicion of offering bribes to Akimoto.

Akimoto, a four-time Lower House member most recently elected through the proportional representation portion from the Minami-Kanto bloc, resigned from his post as parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs after his office was searched on Aug. 4.

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