Suspicions rise over nabbed ex-LDP lawmaker

House of Representatives member Sakai Takanori, who was arrested on suspicion of violating the Political Funds Control Law and expelled from the LDP, may have distorted the labor administration by receiving 120 million yen in bribe from private job placement agencies when he was a parliamentary Labor vice-minister.

In the House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting on March 7, the Japanese Communist Party's Koike Akira said Sakai's acceptance of bribes raises further suspicions.

His corruption involving money began when he received cash in donation in 1996 from Nippon Manpower Co., a private job placement agency and its affiliated companies. At the time, he became former Labor Ministry's parliamentary vice-minister, and the deregulation of companies involved in manpower supply was much discussed. As a result, the Worker Dispatch Law was "amended" to the benefit of such firms.

According to JCP Koike, job placement agencies that had donated to Sakai became ten times larger thanks to the deregulation.

"The 120 million yen in off-the-book donations may have been money-for-favor because Sakai was able to use his position as the former Labor Ministry's No. 2 official to promote the deregulation of job placement services," Koike said. (end)