Genkai mayor returns dubious money after nuclear scandal erupts

January 23, 2020

Genkai, Saga Pref.--The mayor of a southwestern Japan town hosting a Kyushu Electric Power Co. <9508> nuclear plant has revealed that he returned dubious money he had received from a construction firm, only after a high-profile nuclear business scandal erupted elsewhere in the country last year.

Speaking to Jiji Press on Wednesday, Genkai Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama admitted that he received some one million yen in cash from the company based in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, as a gift celebrating his first election to the office in July 2018.

Wakiyama said he returned the money to the company through an acquaintance in December 2019.

The money's return followed revelations that former Kansai Electric Power Co. <9503> executives and former Fukui prefectural government officials have been given lots of money and gifts by an influential figure in the Fukui town of Takahama, which hosts a Kansai Electric nuclear plant.

Wakiyama claimed that he had no acquaintance with any official of the construction firm and initially declined to accept the money in question, but that the company side refused to take it back.

The mayor said he will consult with his supporters and others about whether he should resign over the matter. Jiji Press