Japan ex-official in bid-rigging scandal dead

Tokyo, May 29: A former executive of a Japanese public corporation at the centre of a bid-rigging scandal was found dead in an apparent suicide today, Kyodo news agency said, one day after the farm minister killed himself.

Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who committed suicide yesterday, had received donations from businessmen involved in the bid-rigging scandal, although he had returned the money and denied any wrongdoing.

Police believe that Shinichi Yamazaki, 76, whose body was found in the parking lot of his apartment, leapt to his death from his home on the sixth floor of the building in the city of Yokohama, just west of Tokyo, Kyodo added.

Authorities have been investigating the government body that took over from the public corporation over the bid-rigging scandal, and prosecutors had raided the executive's house as part of their probe, the news agency said.

Reuters>