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LEAD: Probes finish in Lions' scandal, no new case reported
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TOKYO, April 25 (23:23) Kyodo
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(EDS: ADDING QUOTES, MORE INFO)
A special committee set up to investigate the Seibu Lions'
scouting scandal has finished its activities, reporting no new
improper money deals.
The committee, headed by Keio University professor emeritus
Masaru Ikei, instead proposed Wednesday that the Pacific League club
realign its in-house structure and establish new compliance rules in
order to avoid a repetition of such a scandal.
''The lack of morality we see in Japanese society is no
exception in baseball circles,'' Ikei said. ''Without morality,
baseball circles won't get better even if we create good rules, and
we hope we've let things move in the right direction.''
In its interim report issued early this month, the committee
revealed that the Lions paid 170 managers and others in supervisory
posts at amateur baseball teams for acquiring new players over a
period of 27 years up until 2005.
The Lions also paid under-the-table money to five amateur
players, although the committee decided not to make public the names
of any of the people and players involved in both its interim and
final reports.
''Seibu has to understand fully what the report means and needs
to complement what it lacks in compiling its own report,'' acting
baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro said. ''Hopefully, Seibu will
give us its own report before May 7 when representatives from the
baseball clubs meet.''
Last month, it was revealed that Yuta Kimura, a left-handed
pitcher of the Tokyo Gas team, admitted receiving a total of 2.7
million yen under the table from Seibu. The Lions were also found to
have paid money to Waseda University player Katsuhito Shimizu before
and after he entered the university.
Also on Wednesday, senior Japan High School Baseball Federation
official Kazuhiro Tanabe said the federation will call on Nippon
Professional Baseball to release the names of players who were
involved in unethical conduct after the 2004 agreement between the
two sides on the amateur draft. |
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