Four people, including Yashiro City Councilman, were indicted for violating the Organized Crime Punishment Act, possibly for laundering money from bribery case

The Kumamoto District Public Prosecutors Office announced on the 18th that a total of four people, including Yukio Narimatsu (54), Yatsushiro City Council member, was indicted on charges of violating the Organized Crime Punishment Act (concealing criminal proceeds, etc.) in a corruption case involving the construction of a new government building in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture.

The other suspects indicted are Teruyuki Matsuura (84), former Yatsushiro city councilor, Takuya Ito (52), whose occupation is unknown, in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, and Hiroto Watanabe (49), an executive at a web production company, in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo.

According to the indictment, between April 5th and 6th, the four people allegedly deposited approximately 20 million yen of the cash they had obtained from the bribes into an account in the name of the company from ATMs at three convenience stores in Tokyo in order to launder money for bribes.

Narimatsu has been indicted on charges of bribery and bribery for allegedly receiving 60 million yen in bribes from Maeda Construction Industry, a semi-major general contractor, around June 2021 regarding a competitive bidding process for the construction of a new government building.

On the 18th, the district attorney's office indicted Matsuura and Tadasuke Sonokawa (61), a former civil engineering company executive, of Yatsushiro City, on charges of bribery and facilitation, alleging that they were colluding. A total of five people were indicted in the series of incidents.

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