Akimoto, a member of the House of Representatives, claimed in a trial charged with bribery and the acquisition of witnesses that he did not have the funds to acquire the witnesses.
Tsukasa Akimoto, a 49-year-old member of the House of Representatives who was the deputy minister of the Cabinet Office in charge of IR, tried to hand over cash by asking the bribery side to testify that he had received a bribe from a Chinese company. He has been charged with the acquisition of witnesses and has been acquitted.
In a question asked by the accused on the 4th, about the acquisition of a witness who tried to give cash of 20 million yen to a former adviser of a Chinese company on the bribery side, "I heard that I will bring cash, but it is their voluntary act I didn't stop because I thought it wouldn't be illegal. "
On top of that, one of the supporters convicted of acquiring witnesses testified that he had paid 10 million yen each with Akimoto to fund the acquisition of witnesses. I learned for the first time in the press after I was arrested that the amount I tried to give was 20 million yen. "