The World - News from April 23, 1989

Japanese news media reported that Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita received a $378,000 loan in 1987 from the company at the center of a growing bribery scandal. Takeshita, who heads the governing Liberal Democratic Party, received the loan from Recruit Co. and repaid it several months later, Kyodo News Service and the Japan Broadcasting Corp. said. Takeshita did not mention the loan when he told a Parliament panel April 11 that he had received more than $1 million in political donations from Recruit between 1985 and 1987. Recruit, an information services company, is suspected of using political donations to gain favors.