Hiroyasu Watanabe, former president of Tokyo Sagawa Express Co. and a central figure in the 1992 political donation scandal involving its parent firm, Sagawa Express Co., died Jan. 11, sources said Saturday. He was 69.

A funeral for Watanabe, once dubbed "the patron of the political community," has been already held with just relatives attending, they said. The cause of his death was not immediately known.

Watanabe was convicted of aggravated breach of trust for causing 40.2 billion yen in financial damage to his company by extending loans and loan guarantees between 1989 and 1991 to individuals and companies, including organizations linked to the Inagawa-kai gangster group.

In March 2003, the Supreme Court upheld a seven-year prison sentence for Watanabe, which the Tokyo District Court earlier handed down and the Tokyo High court then upheld.

In 1992, a special investigative squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office launched a criminal investigation into Watanabe's activities.

Subsequently, it became public knowledge that his company illegally gave 500 million yen to former Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Shin Kanemaru, who was then fined 200,000 yen in a summary indictment.

The scandal stirred up a public uproar, leading the ruling party to lose its grip on power to a coalition of opposition parties following a House of Representatives electoral setback.

In 1961, Watanabe founded a trucking company. In 1974, he assumed the presidency of Tokyo Sagawa Express, which was inaugurated the same year by its parent company, Sagawa Express.

He also became the patron of famous singers and professional sports figures, and was known for such lavish practices as going on extravagant sprees in the ritzy Ginza entertainment district.

He was also the right-hand man of the late Sagawa Express Chairman Kiyoshi Sagawa and had connections with politicians in both the ruling and opposition camps.