World Briefs: Ex-justice minister, wife indicted in Japan

Ex-justice minister, wife indicted in Japan

TOKYO • Former Japanese justice minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his lawmaker wife Anri were indicted yesterday on suspicion of vote-buying, following the couple's arrest last month, Tokyo prosecutors said.

Tokyo prosecutors said in a statement that the couple had paid 1.7 million yen (S$22,000) to five people last year to help Anri Kawai get an Upper House seat, while Katsuyuki Kawai separately paid a total of 27.31 million yen to 103 people to help her get elected.

Their arrest and indictment are a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as he struggles with falling public support.

REUTERS


Lion Air crash: Boeing settles most claims

SEATTLE • Boeing has reached settlement agreements in more than 90 per cent of the wrongful death claims filed in federal court after the 2018 crash of a Lion Air 737 Max in Indonesia that killed all 189 people on board, a court filing said on Tuesday.

In a filing in federal court in Chicago, Boeing said claims relating to 171 of the 189 people on board the crashed jet have been fully or partially settled.

That includes 140 of the 150 claims filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The company did not disclose how much it paid victims' families or estates.

REUTERS


12 arrested over gas leak at Indian plant

CHENNAI • Indian police have arrested 12 LG Polymers officials, including its South Korean chief executive Sunkey Jeong, an officer said yesterday, two months after a gas leak at the company's south India chemical plant killed 12.

The arrests were made under a case of culpable homicide filed against the company's South Korean parent, LG Chem, when the leak occurred in the early hours of May 7 in the port city of Visakhapatnam, police commissioner Rajiv Kumar Meena said.

"A total of 12 members, including the CEO and two directors, were arrested on Tuesday evening," Mr Meena said, adding that among those arrested were two directors, one of whom is a South Korean.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 09, 2020, with the headline World Briefs: Ex-justice minister, wife indicted in Japan. Subscribe