NAGOYA (Kyodo) Sumo stablemaster Sakaigawa purchased land in Aichi Prefecture in 2008 from a construction company whose board director had past connections with gangsters, sources said Friday.

While the director, a relative of the company's president, is not a yakuza member, police have confirmed that he was once associated with them, investigative sources with Aichi Prefectural Police said.

"I didn't know that the director had ties with mobsters," Sakaigawa claimed. "Since the president doesn't have any contacts with the underworld, I trusted them and didn't closely examine (their background)."

Sakaigawa uses the land to build prefabricated accommodation for sumo wresters from his stable during the grand sumo tournaments in Nagoya.

Sakaigawa said his association with the company started in 1998 as both his colleague and the president were from Nagasaki Prefecture. Since the company was hit hard by the recent economic slump, Sakaigawa offered to buy the 350-sq.-meter plot.

Takanohana 'clean'

Kyodo News

The Japan Sumo Association's special investigative panel concluded Friday that Takanohana, one of the biggest stars in sumo history, did not have contact with yakuza.

The panel was probing recent media reports that the 37-year-old stablemaster and ex-yokozuna contacted a yakuza in Ehime Prefecture in June and was with a different mobster in Kobe two years ago.

"I've told the panel everything, so I have nothing to say," Takanohana said after the panel's conclusion.