Akimoto is suspected of receiving 30 million yen in cash as loans without interest or collateral around March 2019 from the windfarm executive in return for asking questions in ways to benefit the company, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.
Masayuki Tsukawaki, the 64-year-old former president of Japan Wind Development, has admitted that the payments were a “reward” for Akimoto, Kyodo said, quoting unnamed investigative sources. Renewable energy is extremely important to achieve decarbonization and a stable energy supply during a time that the world faces an energy crisis, Kishida said, adding that his government would continue to promote renewables with transparency.
“We cannot build social infrastructure for the future of Japan without fair competition,” said Norihisa Satake, governor of Akita, where Japan’s first full commercial operation of wind power generation began in December. “We want operators to compete fairly and squarely with technology.”