Kansai Electric Power Co. on Monday pledged to improve its corporate governance in the wake of a scandal in which the former deputy mayor of a town hosting one of its nuclear plants was found to have bribed company executives.

In a plan submitted to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the utility said it will appoint a new chairman and set up committees consisting mostly of outside directors to oversee the nomination, remuneration and audits of executives.

The Osaka-based company said Sadayuki Sakakibara, a former head of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, will take the job upon approval of shareholders at an extraordinary meeting in July. Makoto Yagi vacated the post last October to take responsibility for the scandal.

Kansai Electric has been under fire after it came to light that Eiji Moriyama, the former deputy mayor of Takahama in Fukui Prefecture, had bribed executives to give work to a construction company tied to him.

A third-party investigation found that over the course of more than three decades beginning in 1987, he handed out a total of some 360 million yen ($3.4 million) in cash and gifts including clothing vouchers and sumo tickets to 75 people.

The executives said they could not reject the bribes for fear of retribution against the company and themselves. 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 plant.

The industry ministry ordered Kansai Electric on March 16 to draw up a plan to improve its corporate governance within the month and to report its progress by the end of June.

==Kyodo

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