TOKYO (TR) – Six people, including the representative director of a pachinko parlor operator headquartered in Roppongi, have been arrested on suspicion of promising to pay rewards in exchange for voting for a candidate in last month’s House of Councillors election, reports NHK (Aug. 26).

Delpara representative director Masanori Yamamoto, 50, sales manager Kazuyuki Yuasa, 46, administrative director Yoshiyuki Konishi, 44, and three others are suspected of promising to pay rewards to 60 pachinko parlor employees in exchange for voting for a proportional representation candidate in last month’s House of Councillors election.

According to Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Yamamoto, who is also known as Lee Chang-bong, and his associates held a web conference that brought together parlor managers from across the country and promised to pay each employee up to 4,000 yen in return for a vote for Yasuhisa Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party’s proportional representation candidate.

Police have not revealed whether the six suspects have admitted to violating the Public Offices Election Act.

According to the Delpara website and other sources, the company operates 31 parlors in Tokyo and the seven prefectures, including Kagoshima.

The investigation is ongoing. In addition to Tokyo Metropolitan Police, law enforcement in those seven prefectures are investigating the possibility that rewards were promised to more than 250 people.

Abe is the chairman of an industry association made up of pachinko parlors across the country. Although he received over 88,000 votes in the election, he was defeated.

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