Akimoto arrest regrettable: Suga

December 26, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday regretted the arrest of lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto for allegedly taking 3.7 million yen in bribes related to plans for a casino resort.

"It is extremely unfortunate that he was arrested on suspicion that he received bribes while he was state minister at the Cabinet Office," Suga said. Akimoto was minister in charge of casino-featuring integrated resorts.

Akimoto, who has just quit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, allegedly took the money from a Chinese company that was planning to open such a resort in Hokkaido, northernmost Japan.

Suga declined to answer a question about the effects the incident may have on government work to screen IR development plans.

"How this incident could be related to IRs is included in matters related to investigative authorities' activities," he said.

"We'll advance necessary preparations based on the IR development law so that we can realize the effects of IR development projects early," Suga added. Jiji Press