The Nihon University Kaikan building is seen in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Nov. 29, 2021. (Mainichi/Natsuki Nishi)

       TOKYO -- Hidetoshi Tanaka, chairman of the board at Nihon University, who is caught up in a breach of trust case and has been arrested for suspected tax evasion, was allegedly handed a total of 60 million yen (around $530,000) from two parties, including a former director of a medical corporation, a source close to the matter told the Mainichi Shimbun.

       An ex-university board executive allegedly arranged to make the cash gifts to celebrate Tanaka's reappointment as board chair at one of Japan's largest universities in September 2020.

       One of the parties that allegedly paid the 74-year-old board chair at Nihon University is Masami Yabumoto, 61, former director of Osaka-based medical corporation Kinshukai. Tadao Inoguchi, 64, a former Nihon University board member, is suspected to have facilitated the deal, and the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation unit apparently is of the view that the money was collected from multiple contractors affiliated with the university. Both Yabumoto and Inoguchi have been indicted on breach of trust charges.

       Tanaka has been arrested on suspicion of evading a total of about 53 million yen, or roughly $467,000, in income taxes by not reporting kickbacks and other payments he received in final tax returns he filed in 2018 and 2020. It is suspected that Tanaka did not report income totaling about 120 million yen (about $1.06 million), a majority of which were payments from Yabumoto's side. Tanaka has maintained his innocence, denying that he received the cash payments in the first place.

       Tanaka entered his fifth term as board chair at Nihon University after his reappointment during a board meeting in September 2020, and Inoguchi had also been selected as a board member. A source told the Mainichi Shimbun that Yabumoto allegedly collected money from multiple affiliated companies as per Inoguchi's instructions, and is suspected to have handed a total of 30 million yen (around $264,000) to Tanaka on the pretext of celebrating his reappointment.

       The source said there are also suspicions of payments of the same amount being made to the board chair around the same time by a construction company in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was commissioned to do disaster restoration work at Nihon University's College of Engineering in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Koriyama. This payment was also allegedly mediated by Inoguchi.

       Aside from these payments totaling 60 million yen, it has already been revealed that in August 2020, Yabumoto allegedly handed Tanaka 30 million yen two days after the former received a remittance of 220 million yen (about $1.94 million) from a contractor responsible for the design and supervision of the rebuilding of Nihon University Itabashi Hospital.

       It is also suspected that Inoguchi approached several other contractors to have them prepare 300,000 yen (about $2,600) each as monetary gifts to celebrate Tanaka's reappointment as board chair as well as his own appointment as a board executive, among other pretexts. Some contractors apparently handed the cash payments to Inoguchi through an employee of Nihon University Enterprise Co., of which Inoguchi was the director. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation unit has conjectured that the money collected by Inoguchi was transferred to Tanaka.

       Prior to his arrest, Tanaka had explained to those around him that he was unaware that Inoguchi had been collecting money to celebrate his reappointment, and that he had not received the payments. Regarding the over 100 million yen in cash found in his home during a search by the investigation unit, he had reportedly said, "It's money saved from profits of the 'chanko' hot pot restaurant run by my wife, and other funds." Around 2014, Tanaka had been accused of not reporting over 60 million yen in income by national tax authorities, but had settled the matter by filing a corrected report.

       (Japanese original by Kazuya Shimura, Yujiro Futamura, Ai Kunimoto and Tomonori Matsuo, Tokyo City News Department)

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