Two Former Gambling Company Advisers Admit Bribery Charges

News out of Japan are reporting that two former advisers to gambling company 500.com have admitted in court to bribing a Japanese official in relation to favours towards a casino resort development in Japan.

The two men, Masahiko Konno and Katsunori Nakazato have admitted they gave a former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, Tsukasa Akimoto a bribe of $28,000 back in 2017 so he would help with progressing the casino project. It is also admitted by both men they gave additional bribes to the same lawmaker to cover trips to China and other travel expenses.

As part of his brief as an official for the Liberal Democratic Party Akimoto oversaw initiatives towards legalising integrated resorts in Japan while serving as a senior vice minister in the Cabinet Office in 2017 when the bribes occurred.

According to reports the two men who have admitted the bribes said their goal was to get the Japanese government to increase the number of licenses from 3 to 5, however this did not happen and the current amount still stands at three resort licenses for Japan.

Tsukasa Akimoto the former official accused of accepting the bribes was arrested last week on bribery charges and faces prosecution because of the testimony given by both men.