A former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department pleaded guilty on Friday to receiving bribes worth 4.48 million yen from Daiwa Securities Co. in return for information about a case involving the brokerage.
Takayoshi Hontao, 45, a former inspector in the MPD's Second Investigation Section, admitted that he had accepted the bribes as a reward for information about police investigations into a fraud and embezzlement case involving Daiwa's Kunitachi branch in 1993. "The indictment is correct," he said after listening to prosecutors read aloud the indictment at the first session of his trial before the Tokyo District Court. "I can't remember all the facts clearly, but it is true that I accepted the bribe," he said when asked by the judge if he admitted the prosecutors' claims.
Clad in a gray suit, the former police officer said he deeply regrets committing a serious crime that caused significant damage to his former workplace and shocked his colleagues and the public. "I have no idea how to apologize ... I am so sorry," he said.