The Yomiuri Shimbun
Companies are withdrawing from the Foreign Ministry-affiliated organization at which Naoki Akiyama serves as a senior executive.
Akiyama, 58, arrested Thursday on suspicion of income tax evasion, is known as a person who connects politicians and bureaucrats to defense-related companies in Japan and the United States.
Akiyama built a network of politicians and defense-related companies at the Japan-U.S. Center for Peace and Cultural Exchange, including contacts in heavy industry and general trading.
In February, bankruptcy proceedings against Akiyama began, but this did not stop his activities. In May, Akiyama visited the United States with lawmakers representing defense-related interests to observe a military facility. Bankrupt persons are banned from traveling abroad in principle.
The organization was forced to downsize after many member companies that financially supported it resigned their memberships.
More than 20 leading Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and Kobe Steel Ltd. were once members of the organization. According to the organization's income and expenditure account statement, its annual earnings vary from about 50 million yen to 80 million yen. Member companies made financial contributions to the organization through membership fees and donations.
However, the companies began to withdraw from the organization after it became subject to a search by prosecutors in connection with the scandal of defense equipment trading house Yamada Corp. last autumn. Akiyama was summoned as an unsworn witness by the House of Councillors' Foreign affairs and Defense Committee in January.
Almost all member companies had withdrawn from the organization as of May.
"We had questions about the future of the organization," a heavy industries company spokesman said.
In June, the organization moved its office from a building near the Diet Building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, to another building in the ward.
The Tokyo District Court started bankruptcy proceedings against Akiyama in February, after a construction company asked the court to declare him bankrupt. The company insisted Akiyama could not pay 50 million yen in compensation under a court order issued in a suit over the construction of a condominium building.
The Civil Code stipulates that a bankrupt person cannot remain an executive of an incorporated organization. However, Akiyama still claims to be the executive of the organization, saying the organization confirmed him at a general meeting in May.
(Jul. 25, 2008)
Posts
