NARA (Kyodo) The former mayor of Tenri, Nara Prefecture, pleaded guilty Monday in court to accepting a 1 million yen reward in return for ensuring that an associate's son was granted a city job.
During the first hearing at the Nara District Court, Fumio Ichihara, 70, and two men accused of bribing the mayor -- Hiroyuki Fujiyoshi, 57, former senior member of a local farm cooperative, and Sadao Nishikawa, 77, former farm cooperative chief -- admitted to all the charges.
According to prosecutors, Fujiyoshi asked Ichihara, via Nishikawa, to ensure that his son pass the employment test for a job at the municipal government in August 1998.
Although the son did not pass the test, the mayor instructed city officials to manipulate the results so he would be included on the list of winning applicants, the prosecutors allege.
In October the same year, Ichihara received 1 million yen from Fujiyoshi. Ichihara resigned as mayor after his arrest earlier this year.