Email allegedly shows ex-chief of wind-power firm urged lawmaker to speak before parliament

A former president of Japan Wind Development, at the center of a bribery scandal, told executives of the firm that he had asked a lawmaker to make a parliamentary statement in connection with the company’s operations, informed sources said Saturday.

Masayuki Tsukawaki, 64, sent an email to multiple Japan Wind executives saying that he urged House of Representatives member Masatoshi Akimoto, 48, who was arrested for allegedly receiving bribes, to ask a question in the country’s parliament about a sea area off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, where the company was aiming to start a power generation business.

The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office has seized the email as possible evidence of Akimoto having made statements before lawmakers at the request of Tsukawaki.