{"id":168964,"date":"2025-02-18T13:46:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T04:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=168964&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-02-18T13:46:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T04:46:02","slug":"fukuoka-ex-assembly-member-arrested","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/fukuoka-ex-assembly-member-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"Fukuoka Ex-Assembly Member Arrested for \u00a528 Million Bribery Over Subsidy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly member Seiji Kataoka (58) was arrested for allegedly accepting \u00a528 million from Kitakyushu-based health equipment company Sun Life in exchange for providing favors during the approval of the prefecture\u2019s 2022 budget, which included subsidies for a trampoline-based exercise program. Kataoka had repeatedly promoted the program in assembly sessions while in office. Sun Life\u2019s president, Yoshimi Oniki (66), was also arrested for bribery. Fukuoka Prefecture began subsidizing this exercise program in 2019, and by 2022, its budget had grown to \u00a51.78 billion, an increase of over \u00a51.5 billion from the initial year. Police are investigating the budget\u2019s expansion and the relationship between Kataoka and the company. The suspects\u2019 statements have not been disclosed due to the ongoing investigation. <\/span><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20250217\/5010027173.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_trampoline_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C801&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Fukuoka Ex-Assembly Member Arrested for \u00a528 Million Bribery Over Subsidy\" width=\"1400\" height=\"801\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-168972\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_trampoline_2025_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_trampoline_2025_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C172&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_trampoline_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C586&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/fnn_trampoline_2025_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C439&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly member Seiji Kataoka (58) was arrested for allegedly accepting \u00a528 million from&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":168976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-168964","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/168964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}