{"id":146026,"date":"2020-08-24T13:35:18","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T20:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=146026"},"modified":"2020-09-02T08:57:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T15:57:16","slug":"japanese-casino-bribery-scandal-three-arrested-for-witness-tampering-disgraced-pols-prints-found-on-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-casino-bribery-scandal-three-arrested-for-witness-tampering-disgraced-pols-prints-found-on-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Casino Bribery Scandal: Three Arrested for Witness Tampering, Disgraced Pol\u2019s Prints Found on Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tokyo prosecutors indicted three men on Monday whom they accuse of trying to improperly influence a witness in relation to a national casino bribery scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Japan
Butter wouldn\u2019t melt: Casino-policy shaper Tsukasa Akimoto\u2019s fingerprints have been found on cash allegedly used to bribe a witness into making false testimony, according to reports. (Image: SCMP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Akihito Awaji, 54, Fumihiko Sato, 50, and Kazuhiro Miyatake, 49, are alleged to have offered 30 million yen ($284,000) to persuade a former Japanese adviser to Chinese online gambling company 500.com to give bogus testimony in support of Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto.<\/p>\n

Akimoto is a former Cabinet Office minister for Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who was a key figure in shaping policy for the liberalization of Japan\u2019s casino market.<\/p>\n

He was arrested on December 25, 2019, and accused of accepting bribes from 500.com, allegedly for looking favorably on the company\u2019s now-defunct bid to build a casino in Hokkaido province.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great Wave of Corruption <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Monday\u2019s indictments come four days after Akimoto was hit with a new arrest warrant for allegedly ordering his accomplices to tamper with the testimony of 500.com adviser Masahiko Konno, who had already been indicted for bribing Akimoto.<\/p>\n

Citing \u201csources close to the matter,\u201d The South China Morning Post<\/em> reported Saturday that Akimoto\u2019s fingerprints were found on one of three bundles of cash the lawmaker\u2019s accomplices allegedly offered Konno in return for his false testimony.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did not ask (anyone to falsely testify), nor am I involved in anything,”<\/strong> he told investigators last week, as reported by Mainichi Shimbun\u2019s <\/em>English language website.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Akimoto has doggedly remained working as a lawmaker since his release on bail in March, despite being forced out of the LDP.<\/p>\n

Operators Cool Interest<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The idea of a Japanese casino market has had international operators salivating for years, with analysts predicting it would quickly eclipse Las Vegas as the second-biggest gaming market in the world, behind Macau.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abe has long seen international operators and the investment they will bring as a crucial part of his plan to reinvigorate the Japanese economy.<\/p>\n

Legislation that would pave the way for liberalization was finally passed in December 2016. But Japan still has no casinos, and operator interest has cooled — largely because of endless delays<\/a> to the process, operator-unfriendly regulations, and the economic uncertainty brought by the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Once among the front-runners for one of three initial casinos licenses, LVS and Wynn Resorts<\/a> have each bowed out of the race.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the deepening Akimoto scandal has done little to endear casinos to the Japanese public, which never supported them in the first place, consistently polling against liberalization by a 2 to 1 margin.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tokyo prosecutors indicted three men on Monday whom they accuse of trying to improperly influence a witness in relation to a national casino bribery scandal. Akihito Awaji, 54, Fumihiko Sato, 50, and Kazuhiro Miyatake, 49, are alleged to have offered 30 million yen ($284,000) to persuade a former Japanese adviser to Chinese online gambling company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":146031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese Casino Bribery Scandal: Three Arrested for Witness Tampering, Disgraced Pol\u2019s Prints Found on Cash - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tokyo prosecutors indicted three men on Monday whom they accuse of trying to improperly influence a witness in relation to a national casino bribery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese Casino Bribery Scandal: Three Arrested for Witness Tampering, Disgraced Pol\u2019s Prints Found on Cash - 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