Ex-Science Ministry Official Indicted over JAXA Bribery Case

August 16, 2018

Tokyo- Former senior science ministry official Kazuaki Kawabata and former medical consulting firm executive Koji Taniguchi were indicted Wednesday in a bribery case tied to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.

Kawabata, 57, former director-general for international affairs at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, is the second former ministry executive charged over a bribery case linked to Taniguchi, 47.

On July 24, public prosecutors indicted Taniguchi over another bribery case, involving Futoshi Sano, 59, former head of the Science and Technology Policy Bureau, as well as former Tokyo Medical University leaders.

The series of bribery scandals is expected to provoke calls for drastic measures to improve the ethical standards of the ministry's personnel.

In the JAXA case, Kawabata has broadly admitted to charges of taking bribes, while Taniguchi has denied the allegations against him, informed sources said.

Kawabata allegedly took bribes worth 1.5 million yen in total between August 2015 and March 2017, when he was on loan to JAXA, according to the indictment and other sources.

During the period, Kawabata was entertained by the Taniguchi side about 20 times, including at luxury night clubs in Tokyo's Ginza upscale district. Kawabata also received taxi tickets.

Meanwhile, Kawabata worked to get a JAXA astronaut to give a lecture at Tokyo Medical University, with which Taniguchi's medical consulting firm had had business talks.

Kawabata also gave advice to the consulting firm when it proposed a satellite-utilizing disaster prevention service to a potential user.

The special investigating team of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office believes that these actions constituted favors given for bribes.

Taniguchi got acquainted with Sano and other senior ministry officials after becoming close to Kawabata.

Sano was indicted for advising the medical university on its application for aid from the ministry, in exchange for his son's admission to the university.

Taniguchi is alleged to have connected Sano to Masahiko Usui, 77, former president of the university, who was also indicted over the case.

Taniguchi approached government officials using the title of policy consultant for a House of Councillors lawmaker.

"He was a kind of broker, doing business using his personal connections," a senior prosecution official said.

Speaking to Jiji Press, the Upper House lawmaker admitted having received advice from Taniguchi for several years and allowing him to use the consultant title but denied making any payments to him. Jiji Press