information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
27 Janvier 2014
January 27, 2014
Using money paid by consumers, nuclear plant operators have secretly bought tickets worth several million yen a year for fund-raising parties of Akira Amari, a pro-nuclear Cabinet minister, since 2006, The Asahi Shimbun learned.
The utilities have kept each ticket purchase at 200,000 yen ($2,000) or less to prevent their names from appearing in the political fund reports of Amari, the minister in charge of economic revitalization, sources said.
It was already reported that directors of electric power companies have made individual donations to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, but the utilities were found for the first time to have bought fund-raising party tickets with electricity fees paid by consumers.
Amari, an LDP lawmaker with economic and industrial interests, exerts strong influence on energy policy and advocates reactivating idled nuclear reactors.
In July, he sought Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida’s approval of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s application for safety screening in preparation for restarting two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.
Amari’s office told The Asahi Shimbun it handles and reports political funds appropriately. It declined to discuss details beyond those entered in reports.
Nine regional utilities that operate nuclear plants bought tickets for Amari’s parties in 2006, when he became minister of economy, trade and industry, according to senior officials of electric power companies. The electric power industry falls under the jurisdiction of that minister.
The companies together spent about 1 million yen for each party. Their share was determined based on the size of company operations, the sources said.
The arrangement was maintained for the following years, and affiliates of the utilities sometimes joined.
TEPCO dropped out of the framework after the triple meltdown at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
But the eight other utilities have continued to spend about the same amount on tickets for Amari’s parties, the sources said.
Amari’s fund management organization held an average of nine fund-raising functions a year between 2006 and 2012, according to its political fund reports.
The utilities are believed to have spent an average of several million yen a year on more than one party, the sources said.
One official of a utility whose share is 10 percent or less said the company spent about 1 million yen in some years, indicating that the utilities’ purchases totaled 10 million yen or so in certain years.
TEPCO initially played a leading role in the joint purchase, and it evaluated Diet members based on their influence on and cooperation with nuclear power policy.
Amari was one of the politicians to whom the nuclear power industry attached priority, and the value of ticket purchases for his fund-raisers was among the largest for lawmakers, the sources said.
The nine utilities declined to comment on individual purchases of party tickets. Kansai Electric Power Co. added that it never buys tickets in cooperation with other utilities.
(This article was written by Takashi Ichida and Hiroo Sunaoshi.)
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