Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. President Jun Sawada on Monday denied seeking favors at dinners with communications ministry executives and lawmakers when he fronted parliament to answer questions about a scandal involving the Japanese telecom giant and the ministry.
Sawada, who had been reported by a weekly magazine as having treated senior officials of the ministry to lavish meals, apologized when appearing as a witness at a session of the House of Councillors' Budget Committee. But he stressed, "I have not made any request or talked about receiving any favors."
Sawada explained he regularly hosts social gatherings to exchange views with lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties and experts from various fields.
He shed no light on whether the lawmakers involved include Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga or Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Ryota Takeda, arguing that disclosing who he meets would "affect our business."
Sawada denied having raised the topic of lowering mobile phone fees, a key policy for Suga, when treating a senior communications ministry official to a dinner, saying, "Discounts are a part of a business operator's strategy. I would not bring it up from my side."
Yasuhiko Taniwaki, who was ousted as vice minister for policy coordination at the ministry over the scandal, told parliament earlier this month that they may have talked about mobile phone fees when they dined in September 2018, shortly after Suga, then chief Cabinet secretary, said there was room for a sharp cut in the fees.
Meanwhile, the ministry said it will investigate 144 officials over whether they have ever been wined and dined by people involved with entities the ministry supervises. Takeda said the ministry will set up a third-party panel this week to look into the scandal.
Sawada's appearance in parliament came after a number of ministry officials were reprimanded for violating the central government's ethics code by accepting expensive meals from Seigo Suga, the prime minister's eldest son, and other officials of Tohokushinsha Film Corp., a satellite broadcaster in the sector they regulated.
"I am very sorry that my family's involvement led to violations of the ethics law," Suga told the Diet committee session.
Seigo Suga has stepped down as an executive of a Tohokushinsha subsidiary over the scandal.
Tohokushinsha Film President Shinya Nakajima, who also spoke before the committee, apologized for undermining the public's trust in government by hosting "inappropriate dinners with those at the ministry."
He also apologized for obtaining from the ministry a license for "The Cinema 4K" channel based on false information the company submitted stating that it is less than 20 percent foreign-owned.
The Japanese government will revoke the license as the company admitted it is more than 20 percent, above the threshold required by law for the license to be awarded, with Tohokushinsha Film blaming the oversight on a calculation error made when applying in 2016.
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