Japan firm probes $1.3m bribe claims after boss 'confession'
Uzbek officials were paid about 20 million yen, says head of Japan Transportation Consultants.
TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese consultancy firm said it was investigating following a report its president had admitted bribing foreign officials to win contracts linked to multi-million dollar development projects.
Tamio Kakinuma, head of Japan Transportation Consultants (JTC), admitted the 130 million yen ($1.3 million) fraud last week to Tokyo prosecutors, Japan s top-selling Yomiuri newspaper said, and had signed a confession, it added.
JTC said it had set up an internal committee to look into the claims.
"We apologise for causing shareholders, business partners and others concerned a lot of trouble and worry," a company spokesman told AFP. "But we can t comment further until the independent committee announces results of their investigation," he added.
The 65-year-old told prosecutors that his firm paid kickbacks to civil servants in Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan to land work tied to Japan s Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects, the report said. Prosecutors were preparing to launch a criminal probe, it added.
Among the illicit payments were 80 million yen paid to officials at Vietnam Railways to secure a project worth 4.2 billion yen, and 30 million yen in bribes linked to three projects in Indonesia, the paper said.
Uzbek officials were paid about 20 million yen, it added.
On Monday, the Tokyo Prosecutors Office declined to comment.
The Yomiuri said last week that about 40 illegal payments were made to officials between early 2008 and last month.
