A construction company involved in a scandal at Kansai Electric Power Co. increased its sales by at least six times over the five years to August 2018 for work related to nuclear power plants, data by a credit research agency showed Saturday.

Yoshida Kaihatsu, based in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, posted more than 2.1 billion yen ($19.5 million) in sales in the year to August 2018, up from 350 million yen in the year to August 2013, according to the data.

Investigations by tax authorities have found the company paid about 300 million yen in commission to Eiji Moriyama, a former deputy mayor of Takahama, to win projects at the Takahama nuclear power station run by Kansai Electric.

The findings of the company's sales came a day after Kansai Electric President Shigeki Iwane, 66, said he and 19 other executives received a total of 320 million in money and goods from Moriyama, who died aged 90 in March, from 2011 to 2018.

Meanwhile, Kansai Electric Chairman Makoto Yagi, 69, told Kyodo News on Saturday that he received money and goods from Moriyama from around 2006 to 2010 when he belonged to the company's nuclear power division, contradicting Iwane's remarks the previous day.

(Eiji Moriyama)
[Photo courtesy of Takahama town]

Yagi also said that the company plans to make public a report from an in-house investigation over the matter, saying that it would be difficult to obtain the public's understanding if it were to remain undisclosed.

Moriyama "brought goods which were deemed excessive and I of course declined, but sometimes he became enraged," Yagi said.

Yagi said he "never received" any goods after becoming president in June 2010.

Yoshida Kaihatsu won at least 2.5 billion yen worth of projects at the Takahama plant and another Kansai Electric nuclear plant in the neighboring town of Oi, according to the credit research agency.

The company may have logged additional sales not detected by the agency.

A former member of the Takahama municipal assembly said that many in the town are aware of the close ties between Yoshida Kaihatsu and Moriyama.

"Without Mr. Moriyama, Yoshida Kaihatsu would not have won projects related to Kansai Electric thus far," the member said.


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