Explainer: Bribery scandal casts shadow on Japan's big casino gamble

Thursday 26th December 2019

Japanese prosecutors have arrested a ruling-party lawmaker previously in charge of casino policy on suspicion he accepted bribes from a company seeking to build a casino. The arrest of a member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is likely to harden public opposition to the unpopular plan to allow casinos in the world's third-largest economy. Tokyo prosecutors arrested Tsukasa Akimoto on Wednesday on suspicion of accepting bribes from employees of a company that wanted to set up a casino in Japan.