The World : 2 Indicted in Japan Scandal

Tokyo prosecutors indicted two members of Parliament, including a senior ally of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, in what appeared to be the culmination of their eight-month investigation into the Recruit Co. scandal that has rocked Japan and its government. Takao Fujinami, 56, Nakasone’s former chief of staff, and opposition Parliament member Katsuya Ikeda, 52, were charged with receiving bribes from the Recruit conglomerate in the form of checks and cut-rate stock. Both proclaimed their innocence. The two were the first politicians charged in the scandal, although prosecutors already had charged 13 businessmen and bureaucrats.