TOKYO, Aug 18: Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Tuesday that they had been paying money to a leasing firm involved in a payoff scandal also ensnaring Japan Airlines Co Ltd.A spokesman for Toyota Motor said that the company had ended a contract with the firm, which police have said is affiliated with racketeers. The firm leases ornamental plants. "We cut ties with the last spring," the spokesman said.
The spokesman declined to say how long the contract with the leasing firm lasted or how much Toyota paid.
Nissan, meanwhile, said it had ended a contract with the same firm last October. A spokesman for Nissan also declined to say how much money was paid.
Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday that police did not plan to take the Toyota and Nissan cases to prosecutors because the companies cut the contracts short and paid only a small amount of money.
On Monday, Tokyo police said they had arrested two "sokaiya" corporate racketeers who they said received money from JAL, on charges of violating Japan's Commercial Code.
JAL said some of its officials had been questioned by Tokyo police about suspected involvement in illegal payoffs.
Payoffs to sokaiya racketeers, who extort money from companies by threatening to expose dubious business practices or disrupt annual shareholders' meetings, have been illegal since 1983.
Printer-friendly page
