Japan’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Tsukasa Akimoto, the former House of Representatives lawmaker found to have accepted bribes from Chinese online gaming firm 500.com in 2017 and 2018 when it was looking to bid for an integrated resort license.
The now 53-year-old, who launched an appeal after being sentenced to four years in prison in September 2021, was deputy minister of the cabinet office responsible for IRs at the time of the bribes.
According to The Japan Times, Akimoto’s sentence and a fine of around JPY7.6 million have now been confirmed by the Supreme Court with Justice Masaaki Oka on Tuesday rejecting his appeal as well as that of 46-year-old Akihiro Toyoshima, former policy secretary to Akimoto, who was sentenced to two years in prison for conspiracy.
Aside from accepting those initial bribes in 2017 and 2018, Akimoto was also found to have facilitated while out on bail in mid-2020 bribe offers to two former consultants of 500.com in exchange for false testimony.
500.com had at the time been planning to bid for an IR license in either Hokkaido or Okinawa, although the company did not pursue its bid and both locations and later withdrew from Japan’s IR race.
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