Unsecured on three occasions… “35 million yen” of money flowed from the arrested husband’s company to Rui Miura’s company!

It was discovered that a “3.85 million yen” consulting contract was concluded between Rurei Miura’s company, Wildcat Research Institute, and her husband Kiyoshi Miura’s company, Tribay Capital, which was arrested and indicted for the crime. Continuing from the previous article, “[Full Version] Documentary Evidence of Rurei Miura’s Receipt of 3.85 Million Yen Solar Consulting Fee from Husband’s Company,” we will report in detail on the close relationship between Rurei and Kiyoshi’s company, as well as Rurei’s “problematic statements” at the government’s Growth Strategy Council. The following article will report in more detail on the “problematic statements” made by Mr. Rurei at the government’s Growth Strategy Council.

This is not the only internal document showing financial ties between Tribay and Wildcat. There are three loan agreements between Tribay and Wildcat.

According to these agreements, Tribay loaned Yamcat a total of 35 million yen on three occasions in July and November 2006 and February 2007. The loan terms were all for one year from the date of the contract, with an interest rate of 1% per annum and no collateral required. Article 1, which states the “Purpose of this Agreement,” is identical in wording in all three letters, and reads as follows

Seferay Tribay Capital Corporation (Tribay’s name at the time) (omitted) and Wildcat Research Institute, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Wildcat Research Institute”) will provide a loan to Wildcat Research Institute in connection with the Project under the following terms and conditions

Given that Mr. Rurei claims that he has nothing to do with Tribay, it is noteworthy that Tribay and Wildcat are mentioned as a matter of course as being in a “cooperative relationship. And it is based on this cooperative relationship that the 35 million yen was loaned.

In addition, according to the registry and other documents, Seishi was the president of Yamcat at the time, and Rurei was a director of Hira. Therefore, the loan of money under the agreement was made by Mr. Kiyoshi, the president of Tribay, to Mr. Kiyoshi, the president of Wildcat. This also shows how free the exchange of money between the two companies was.

Given the fact that Tribay and Yamakko, and Kiyoshi and Rurei, were bound by consulting contracts and financial interests, what must be examined next are Rurei’s subsequent words and actions.

In October 2008, immediately after the consulting contract between Tribay and Wildcat was signed, the government’s Growth Strategy Council was launched, with Mr. Rurei serving in the capacity of an expert. At the sixth meeting of the Council, Mr. Rurei submitted a “handout” that contained a noteworthy statement. In his 12-point proposal, Mr. Rurei listed the challenges that developers of solar power plants may face and proposed solutions, such as legal reform.

For solar power FIT projects that have signed an interconnection agreement (to sell electricity to a power company), there is a penalty that reduces the procurement price if the output is reduced by 20% or more from the original plan before operation begins. (Omitted) As long as the connection point remains the same, output reduction of solar power generation projects should be allowed without penalty across the board.

FIT is a feed-in tariff (FIT) system under which electric power companies purchase renewable energy such as solar power from businesses and households at a fixed price. On the other hand, before a business can build a power plant, it must apply to the relevant authorities to obtain permission for the output of the solar panels and the size of the land to be developed. There is a set minimum limit for reducing the output of solar panels compared to the plan at the time of application, but Rurei proposed that no penalty be imposed even if the output is reduced below the minimum limit.

A person involved with the Wakayama power plant said.

The Wakayama Power Plant is planned in a mountainous area, and the slopes need to be developed into flat land, which is expected to be very costly. When we calculated the cost of building the land and the income from electricity sales under the FIT, we found that to make a profit, we needed to lower the output to 35 MW, which is below the lower limit of 20%.

An additional cost for the Wakayama Power Plant was the prefecture’s own development standards set by the “Wakayama Prefecture Solar Ordinance.

In Wakayama Prefecture, the ordinance requires that any land developed for the construction of a solar power plant meet the standards of the Building Lots Development Regulation Law. In consideration of disaster prevention, such as the prevention of soil erosion, it was necessary to develop the land at the same level as residential areas, even for development in mountainous areas where people do not live”.

The fifth item in Rurei’s proposal appears to address these issues.

Currently, each local government has enacted its own ordinances regarding the coexistence of renewable energy generation facilities and local communities. The scope, process, and level of consent with the local community required by each municipality are vague and different, causing confusion for developers. The government has been asked to develop a standard model ordinance to serve as a reference.

If there were common guidelines throughout Japan for the development of solar power plants, the Tribay would not have to suffer from the strict regulations unique to Wakayama Prefecture. Such thoughts are evident.

When Rurei was a member of the Growth Strategy Council in 2008, Tribay was developing mega solar power plants in Hyogo and Miyagi prefectures in addition to the Wakayama Power Plant. Rurei’s seventh recommendation is believed to reflect the common requests of the three mega-solar sites.

According to the revised FIT Law, which is scheduled to go into effect in April 2022, if the construction plan for a renewable energy power generation facility has not been submitted by April 2022, the approval of the project plan for the facility will expire. (Omitted) For projects that have already obtained permits for agricultural land conversion, forest land development, etc. to a certain degree and are in the process of coordination with neighboring communities, a certain grace period should be allowed for the expiration of certification even if the construction plan has not been submitted under the Electricity Business Act as of April 2022.

One solar power producer explains the intent of this proposal as follows.

All three mega solar power plants in the Tri-Bay had already passed their start-up deadlines and had not yet obtained permits for forest land development, so they were still in the process of submitting their construction plans. If the certification expired, all the money that had been spent on the development would have been wasted, and they did not want to let go of the certification once obtained under any circumstances. Therefore, it is desirable to extend the period until the certification expires as long as possible.

If these recommendations by Mr. Rurei were realized, the pending issues facing Tribay could be resolved. Is this not evidence of an attempt by Rurei to lobby the government to “steer profits” to her husband’s company?

We wrote to Wildcat and Tribay to inquire about the facts, but received no response by the deadline.

The plating is coming off Mr. Rurei, who said that he was “unable to express his opinions or make any judgments” about Tribay’s management.

Interview and text by Naoyuki Miyashita, nonfiction writer
naoyukimiyashita@pm.me