Bureaucrats wined and dined 54 times on Tohokushinsha s tab
Probe set up by satellite TV firm admits optics look bad, but puts that down to execs ambition and ignorance rather than design Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. If you re not sure how to activate it, please refer to this site: https://www.enable-javascript.com/
A report by an investigation panel set up by the broadcasting company Tohokushinsha Film Corp. concludes that 54 dinner sessions it paid for spanning five years were aimed at building relationships with communications ministry officials, not making requests related to licensing and other matters in an unfair way. | KYODO
Tohokushinsha Film Corp. President Shinya Nakajima, left, answers questions from an opposition lawmaker at the Lower House Budget Committee session on March 16. Jun Sawada, president of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., is seen seated behind him. (Kotaro Ebara)
A series of revelations about a lack of discipline and integrity within the telecommunications ministry has bred deep public distrust of the ministry s regulation of the broadcast and telecommunications industries.
It is imperative to clarify the facts and hold people involved responsible.
It has been confirmed that Tohokushinsha Film Corp., the media company at the center of the wining and dining sandal that has rocked the ministry, has also violated a rule in the Broadcast Law that restricts foreign ownership of a broadcasting company.
Jun Sawada, president of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., answers questions from an opposition lawmaker about his dinners with telecommunications ministry officials at the Upper House Budget Committee on March 15. (Reina Kitamura)
The steady drip of information fueling the scandal of bureaucrats being wined and dined by industry stakeholders is showing no signs of slowing.
It continued again on March 15, when the telecommunications ministry said two top officials dined in 2018 with the president of telecommunication giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., a major industry player under the ministry’s purview.
The two officials are Yoshinori Akimoto and Shigeki Suzuki, officials said.
NTT chief denies asking ministry officials for favors Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. If you re not sure how to activate it, please refer to this site: https://www.enable-javascript.com/
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. President Jun Sawada (left) and Tohokushinsha Film Corp. President Shinya Nakajima attend an Upper House Budget Committee session on Monday. | KYODO
Jiji, Kyodo Mar 15, 2021
NTT Corp. President Jun Sawada, at a parliamentary meeting on Monday, denied that the company had asked lawmakers in senior communications ministry posts for favors through wining and dining them.
“There have been no conversations for making requests related to our business or receiving favors,” Sawada told the House of Councilors’ Budget Committee.
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