TEPCO sets date for AGM amidst lawsuit, bailout and questions in Parliament

Denies AGM access to the media

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the troubled operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, has revealed the date of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and stated that it will not admit members of the media into the meeting.

The TEPCO 2012 AGM will be held from 10:00am on Wednesday 27 June at the First Gymnasium of the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, according to an e-mail received from TEPCO Corporate Communications. Spokesperson Mayumi Yoshida explained "Media is not allowed to get inside the meeting, though we will guide media to a certain area to take photos around the entrance."

The 2011 AGM was the scene of angry verbal confrontations between executives and shareholders, as nearly 9000 people packed into the meeting hall and demonstrators gathered outside. A shareholder motion for TEPCO to abandon nuclear energy was defeated at that meeting.

Losses

TEPCO reported an annual loss of US$15 billion (1.25 trillion yen) prior to the 2011 AGM and a US$10 billion (782 billion yen) loss for year to 31 March 2012. All of the 54 nuclear reactors in Japan are currently shut down and 80,000 people who were living close to the Fukushima plant have had to leave their homes.

Criminal Complaint

1300 people have today filed a criminal complaint against the TEPCO chairman and 32 other executives, according to a report in the Japan Daily Press (11 June). The complaint, lodged with the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office, alleges that the company executives failed to prepare countermeasures for earthquakes or tsunamis and did not properly warn the population about the spread of radiation.

Bailout

On 9 May TEPCO received a 1 trillion yen (US $12.5 billion) bailout from the Japanese government, in return for a controlling stake. The cash injection was necessary to avoid a collapse of the company. The shares will be held by a new body, the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund.

Questions in Parliament

On Friday last week the former president of TEPCO, Masataka Shimizu, faced a government-appointed panel to answer questions about his conduct during the Fukushima incident. In response to questions about a planned total evacuation of the site, he told panel members that TEPCO had "at no stage considered a complete pullout".

by Marcus Williamson
Freelance Journalist
11 June 2012

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