Kansai Electric top executives received ¥320 mil in payoffs from local official

What?! Corruption in a Japanese company? Next, you'll be trying to tell me there was corruption in the Japanese Olympic Committee. This is soooooo hard to believe given how often we hear that Japanese people are kind, polite, and honest.

Kansai Electric said late Thursday that some of its officials had received money and gifts from "a certain person," but all such gifts were kept only "temporarily" and had been returned.

Right, and I have some beach front property you can buy too!

What, no detainment? What a double standard!

So uh...interesting to note that the article says nothing about these guys being arrested or facing any sort of legal consequences whatsoever. I thought the Ghosn case was supposed to represent a newfound interest by prosecutors in harshly dealing with financial corruption like this but I guess not. Surprise surprise!

Another case of corruption involving corporations and government payoffs. This really is a corrupt little country run on brown paper bags full of cash.

It is all good because the money was only temporarily placed on the kitchen table and washed down and then returned in a sparkling condition, having been scented and rewrapped 4 times.

It is the Japanese way...

The not so well hidden cost of Nuclear Power. Prosecutors......prosecutor? Prosecutors?.....chirp, chirp, chirp.

Kansai Electric said late Thursday that some of its officials had received money and gifts from "a certain person," but all such gifts were kept only "temporarily" and had been returned.

Those gifts were just resting in my bank account!

Kansai Electric said late Thursday that some of its officials had received money and gifts from "a certain person," but all such gifts were kept only "temporarily" and had been returned.

Lol, they actually say that with a straight face?

THIS!

The money in question was sent to the Kansai Electric officials' personal bank accounts or delivered directly to the company, the sources said, adding that some cash was brought to one of the officials in a bag containing confectionery.

Oh COME ON! Where are the rolling heads? Is this a bloody naked gun movie?

some cash was brought to one of the officials in a bag containing confectionery.

If Japan has one thing, it's extravagant boxes of cookies and jellies where you can stash serious amounts of cash.

Needless to say the construction company is still and will continue getting work, people connected to the mayor will keep getting elected, and everything will continue as normal.

Feudal ages existed between the 10th and 15th century in Europe.

Still existing officially in Japan in 21 st century.

No head to roll but it should have.

Japanese are peasants to their politicians and accept it. Their choice.

Ah yes, the amount of people who again fail to read the article or understand the law rear their ugly heads...

What, no detainment? What a double standard!

So uh...interesting to note that the article says nothing about these guys being arrested or facing any sort of legal consequences whatsoever. I thought the Ghosn case was supposed to represent a newfound interest by prosecutors in harshly dealing with financial corruption like this but I guess not. Surprise surprise!

Who are you going to arrest? The Deputy Mayor already passed away in March of last year.

Accepting the gifts provided by the Deputy Mayor is not illegal in itself. The act of using public funds to give them gifts, is though. A bribe would ensue that a service was performed in exchange for the money but this isn't the case. And generally speaking, as long as it is approved by the city financial officers offering incentives for a company to do business somewhere isn't a crime.

The difference between the Ghosn case is that he stole money from Nissan. Not received a gift from Nissan.

As long as the people receiving the money properly reported it to the tax agency then there is a legal footing to take any action against them.

In the case of the gifted money, the Deputy Mayor likely committed a crime, but he's dead. No going after him.

The tax investigation also discovered that the former deputy mayor, Eiji Moriyama, who died at age 90 in March this year, received 300 million yen from a local construction company that was hired for projects at the Takahama plant as a commission for his role in awarding them part of the work.

^ This is illegal. This falls under the legal definition of bribery and I have no doubt the tax officials will be going after the construction company for this.

A simple way to put it. Governments can't actually bribe people. Bribery can technically only be committed by private entities (people who want decisions made) → Governments (people who make decisions). It doesn't work the other way around. But there are other laws for governments and government officials such as public funds misuse etc.

Another case of corruption involving corporations and government payoffs. This really is a corrupt little country run on brown paper bags full of cash.

Lets not be selective here. In every country in the world, construction = bribery. The US, Britain, Australia, Canada are notorious for it.

Kesteer good post. You managed to outline everything that's wrong with the current system. Well done.

Notorious? You might perhaps check global ratings of corruption, Japan is notorious for corruption should be easy to check not so much scrolling they at the top end.

Kesteer good post. You managed to outline everything that's wrong with the current system. Well done.

Trying to take a neutral stance on it. I think that actually understanding the law is a reasonable necessity before drawing parallels to other criminal cases... I agree the system should be fixed. But it is what it is unfortunately.

So that's what "Power With Heart" means.

All business is dirty. Rebate is everywhere.

Anything new ???.

Oh come on. I'm sure the bribes were offered and accepted very politely.

Touché.

A simple way to put it. Governments can't actually bribe people. Bribery can technically only be committed by private entities

Congrats for winning the most ridiculous statement of the day.

I don't understand, is it your reasoning that government is not a person so it cannot bribe an individual?

One of the lessons of Fukushima is that regulatory oversight was too easily compromised by too close a relationship between corporate interests and the regulatory authority that was responsible for ensuring safety. There should be zero tolerance for shenanigans such as we’ve seen here. What these scum need is a non suspended prison term of at least a year in order to reflect on the gravity of their offence.

the problem is what law has been broken. anti bribery laws typically forbid payments TO a public official or his family. in this case payment was FROM a public official. whether that was a misuse of public funds or not, is up to public.