Kansai Electric Power Co. said Tuesday it has filed a 1.94 billion yen ($18 million) damages suit against five of its former executives over a bribery scandal involving a former deputy mayor of a town that hosts one of its nuclear power plants.

The Osaka-based utility, which filed the suit with the Osaka District Court, has been under fire since it came to light last September that the late former deputy mayor of Takahama in Fukui Prefecture had bribed executives and employees of the company to give work to firms linked to him.

The five include former Chairman Makoto Yagi and two former presidents, Shigeki Iwane and Shosuke Mori.

The lawsuit came after its board of auditors decided to sue them at an extraordinary meeting on Monday, concluding that the five had failed to perform their duties as board directors.

The company said the damages include 879 million yen for operational losses partly due to the suspension of bid participation due to the scandal and 284 million yen in advertising costs to restore public trust.

A third-party investigation panel reported in March that for more than three decades from 1987 the deputy mayor, Eiji Moriyama, handed out a total of around 360 million yen in cash and gifts, including clothing vouchers and sumo tickets.

The company has punished 93 former and current executives and employees for accepting cash and gifts.

Moriyama, who died in March 2019, held strong sway in the local community and had been instrumental in quelling opposition to the addition of two new reactors to the Takahama nuclear power plant.

==Kyodo

© Kyodo News International, Inc., source Newswire