6 Arrested for Promising Reward over Japan Parliamentary Election

   Tokyo, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police arrested six executives of a Tokyo-based company operating "pachinko" pinball parlors, including its 50-year-old president with South Korean citizenship, for allegedly promising to pay a cash reward in return for voting for a certain candidate in last month's parliamentary election in Japan.
   Among the other five arrested by the joint investigation headquarters formed by the police departments of eight prefectures, including Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, are Kazuyuki Yuasa, 46, head of the marketing department of the company, Derupara, and Tomoyuki Konishi, 44, chief of Derupara's management department.
   The arrestees are suspected of promising in early July to around the middle of the month to pay 3,000 yen or 4,000 yen to each of some 60 people, including pachinko parlor workers, in exchange for voting for a proportional representation candidate officially endorsed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the July 20 House of Councillors election. Their act allegedly violated the political funds control law.
   The investigation headquarters has not revealed whether the suspects admitted to the allegations. It believes that more than 250 employees, including those at Derupara group companies, were involved in the incident.
   According to the MPD, the Derupara president and other suspects requested voting for the candidate, Yasuhisa Abe, the 66-year-old head of a national association of operators of pachinko parlors, in the election for the upper chamber of Japanese parliament.

(2025/08/27-02:11)

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