Tokyo Municipal Government Scandal

Japanese: 東京市政疑獄 - とうきょうしせいぎごく

Corruption scandal involving Tokyo city council members. The first of the city government scandals was the "gravel eating scandal" in 1920, which was the result of irregularities in the construction of the road to the Meiji Shrine. It was followed by the discovery of various bribery cases, large and small, in road and sewer construction projects throughout the city. This was followed by the Tokyo Gas Company handing over 40,000 yen and 20,000 yen to the two major city council groups, the Kowakai and the Shitomokai, over a gas price hike, which led to the company taking bribes totaling hundreds of thousands of yen. After that, other cases of corruption involving city government came to light, including the bribe scheme to buy the Tama Railway Company in 1950, the bribery of 136,000 yen in connection with the payment of 700,000 yen in compensation for the relocation of the fish market in 1953, the increase in the usage fee for a vegetable market executive, the passage of an additional budget for a change in the city bus model (the Entaro scandal), and the bribery of over 140,000 yen in connection with the approval of the Keisei Electric Railway's entry into the city.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

東京市会議員らの汚職事件。1920年明治神宮の参宮道工事不正問題，すなわち〈砂利食い事件〉に端を発し，市全般の道路･下水工事における大小さまざまな贈収賄事件の発覚が市政疑獄の第1弾である。つづいて東京瓦斯会社のガス料金値上げをめぐり，会社側が市会の二大団体，公和会と市友会に，それぞれ4万円，2万円を手渡したのをきっかけに数十万円にものぼる贈収賄を行ったことも明るみに出た。その後，市政にからむ乱脈な汚職は，25年の多摩鉄道会社への買収工作，28年の魚市場移転補償費70万円交付にからむ13万6000円の贈収賄，青物市場幹部の使用料引上げ額，市バスの車種変更にともなう追加予算成立(円太郎事件)，京成電鉄乗入れ認可をめぐっての14万円を超える市会の収賄などが続々と明るみに出た。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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