Diet must subpoena Suzuki above all else -- Akahata editorial, February 27 (excerpts)

The government and the ruling parties are reported to have agreed on summoning Liberal Democratic Party member Suzuki Muneo to appear as a sworn witness before the Diet over allegations that he has manipulated foreign aid programs, in particular assistance to the Russian-held "Four Northern Islands." But, at a meeting of the board of directors of the Lower House Budget Committee, two ruling parties - Liberal Democratic and Komei parties - objected to having Suzuki testify under oath before the Lower House committee.

Emphasizing that there must not be any tricks, Akahata's editorial of February 27 said that the Diet should resolve to subpoena Suzuki without delay. The editorial stated:

The problem here is that an LDP member of parliament who represents special interests clashed with bureaucrats in the Foreign Ministry and wielded significant influence on government foreign assistance funds to his personal benefit. This is a distortion of Japan's foreign policy and a national political issue we must not ignore in that the administrative authorities which have power to enforce budgets are implicated.

To establish all the facts related to the suspicions is an indispensable task of the Budget Committee in the process of discussing a draft national budget.

The date of subpoena has not been set yet because the government and the ruling parties are still insisting on discussing the draft budget first in a dodge to prevent the facts from coming to light. The prime minister said that the imperative task is for the Diet to enact the budget bill within the current fiscal year.

LDP Suzuki meddled in the bid for the construction work project for the (Russian-held) "Four Northern Islands" to ensure that the construction firm in his constituency would win the bid. A house that was built on one of the four islands with Japan's humanitarian assistance was called "Muneo House." All this was revealed by Japanese Communist Party representatives in the Diet. The Foreign Ministry acknowledged that it has internal documents that support the allegation.

Involved in suspicions about Suzuki are a diplomatic issue and an indication that secret maneuvering by special-interest Dietmembers as part of the structural collusion among political, bureaucratic, and business worlds at the expense of tax money is in every aspect of LDP politics.

This is why the Diet must act as the highest organ of state power to investigate into this question of national political importance and reveal all the facts to the people. It is the duty which the people entrust to the Diet.

If the prime minister and the ruling parties use delaying tactics to block subpoenas of Suzuki under oath on the grounds that priority must be given to the passage of a national budget through parliament, the public may realize that the government is trying to limit the issue to a personal problem of Suzuki out of fear that the corrupt structure of LDP politics will come to light (end)