Isono is arrested again, this time on suspicion of swindling 11.6 million.

A former chief producer of Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges he defrauded the public broadcaster out of millions of yen in program-production fees.

Katsumi Isono's admission in the Tokyo District Court came as suspicions surfaced over additional claims he made for production costs.

Isono, 48, already indicted four times for a series of misappropriation cases concerning 39 million yen, was arrested again Wednesday on suspicion he swindled an additional 11.6 million yen.

NHK's in-house probe has revealed the former producer of popular entertainment programs likely filed about 100 million yen in false claims.

Isono apologized for swindling NHK during the first hearing of a trial involving two programs he was in charge of in 2000 and 2001.

``I am filled with regret for the audience who trusts NHK as a public broadcaster, the public who pay viewer fees and NHK employees,'' he told the court. ``I used to find my job at the broadcaster worth living for, but I have lost everything due to my erring sense of morals.''

His alleged accomplice, event organizer Hisayuki Uehara, 48, also admitted to charges he and Isono had NHK pay 19.14 million yen into Uehara's bank account by fabricating contracts for the two programs.

Prosecutors argued Isono misappropriated the funds to buy jewelry and other expenses for a woman he had an affair with.

Meanwhile, a fresh arrest warrant was served against Isono on Wednesday on suspicion he swindled 11.6 million yen more out of NHK by registering a production company president as a script writer-in name only.

Tokyo police also arrested the president, Yoshifumi Kubota, 52, bringing the number of arrested people to five in the series of cases.

NHK had earlier told The Asahi Shimbun that the president was paid only for services rendered.

On Tuesday, NHK announced its additional suspicion that Isono inflated the number of dancers and choruses appearing in music shows to falsely claim payments worth 42.38 million yen.(IHT/Asahi: March 10,2005)