A senior official at a scandal-hit talent agency loaned 100 million yen in 1999 to the private secretary of Koichi Kato, a former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, agency sources said Friday.
The 60-year-old private secretary of the LDP heavyweight borrowed the money from Yasuo Harase, 53, former head of the general affairs department at Rising Productions Co., via an affiliate of the talent agency managed by Harase, the sources said.
The private secretary, who also serves as chief accountant of a fund management body for Kato, requested the loan. He later returned the money, according to the sources.