The Yomiuri Shimbun
Former Administrative Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, who is under arrest on suspicion of taking bribes, played golf with his wife and Motonobu Miyazaki, former executive of defense trading firm Yamada Corp., even while the Self-Defense Forces were on a mission to help disaster victims in 2004, investigators said Friday.
The couple visited various locations nationwide to play golf with Miyazaki, and the practice continued until early May 2006, about two months before Miyazaki left Yamada, they added.
According to the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, Moriya and his wife traveled to Kochi Prefecture with Miyazaki during the Golden Week holiday period in 2002 to play golf.
It was revealed in December 2001 that Yamada had inflated by about 190 million yen the price of equipment supplied for use on Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol helicopters in fiscal 2000. At the end of May that year, however, the then Defense Agency agreed on a new lower-priced contract with the company, and refrained from meting out any punishment for the bill padding.
Moriya became administrative vice defense minister on Aug. 1, 2003.
One week later, the agency decided to procure engines for the Air Self-Defense Force's C-X next-generation transport aircraft from General Electric Co., for which Yamada worked as a sales agent.
The following day, Moriya and his wife went on another golf tour to Hokkaido at Miyazaki's expense, playing golf on Aug. 11, according to the investigators.
On Feb. 11, 2005, the couple was in Fukuoka Prefecture with Miyazaki to play golf.
Four days later, the agency concluded a contract with Yamada to procure three engines for the C-X planes through the firm for about 2.64 billion yen.
The couple played golf in Hokkaido on July 18, 2004, when the Self-Defense Forces were dispatched to Niigata and Fukushima prefectures, which had been hit by torrential rains.
They were in Hiroshima Prefecture to play golf on May 6, 2006, three days after then Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga held a meeting with his U.S. counterpart in Washington.
The golf outings usually took place over the weekend or consecutive holidays, on a three-day schedule. The Moriyas visited locations nationwide, from Hokkaido to Tohoku, Hokuriku, Shikoku and Kyushu.
Miyazaki paid about 300,000 yen for each trip, covering not only the golf expenses but also accommodation, transport, sightseeing and the cost of evening meals.
The couple would sometimes invite friends who lived in the areas visited to join them for golf or dinner.
On such occasions, Miyazaki covered all costs for the friends as well, with Sachiko reportedly telling them that they would not have to pay.
Miyazaki has reportedly admitted wining and dining Moriya in return for favors, telling investigators that the golf tours were intended to maintain his good relationship with Moriya and ensure that he would keep doing favors for Yamada.
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4 mil. yen handed to prosecutors
Miyazaki voluntarily submitted about 4 million yen in cash to prosecutors about two months prior to Wednesday's arrests of Miyazaki, Moriya and his wife as evidence of loans Miyazaki claimed he offered to Moriya and later repaid.
The special investigation squad, suspecting the submitted money might have been Miyazaki's own, and part of an attempt by him to head off allegations of bribery, is looking into the case.
According to sources, in 2004 and 2006 Miyazaki instructed Osamu Akiyama, 70, former president of Yamada's U.S. subsidiary Yamada International Corp., who was arrested for alleged embezzlement involving Yamada, to transfer money on three separate occasions.
Miyazaki is said to have asked 2 million yen be transferred to a bank account belonging to Moriya's wife and more than 1 million yen be sent to a bank account belonging to Moriya's second daughter, from a slush fund kept in an account under the name of Akiyama.
Miyazaki reportedly said earlier the money was sent to different accounts in Japan before his arrest. However, Miyazaki later admitted to prosecutors the money was sent to the accounts of Moriya's family members, after prosecutors discovered the money.
Miyazaki later submitted the money in cash as evidence, saying, "The borrowed money was repaid by Moriya."
(Dec. 1, 2007)
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