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

The Osaka-based utility 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 companies linked to him.

Kansai Electric said it will file the suit with the Osaka District Court by Wednesday. The five to be sued include former Chairman Makoto Yagi and two former presidents, Shigeki Iwane and Shosuke Mori.

The announcement came after its board of auditors held an extraordinary meeting and concluded 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 and 284 million yen in advertising costs to restore public trust.

It will not file a suit against its former and current auditors who had overlooked the problem, saying it is unlikely that significant damages would be awarded.

The utility will also not sue its current management including President Takashi Morimoto, who assumed his post after Iwane resigned in March over the scandal.

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

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