JCP reveals LDP Dietmembers receive donations from high-speed rail contractors

A Japanese Communist Party Diet member has revealed that influential Liberal Democratic Party Dietmembers from the Kyushu region in western Japan and local LDP bodies in 1995 received more than one billion yen in donation from construction companies which were on contract for the construction of a new high-speed railway.

Ozawa Kazuaki in the House of Representatives Budget Committee's subcommittee meeting on February 27 criticized this as collusion of politicians and businesses.

The corporate money was donated to LDP Secretary General Yamasaki Taku and seven other members of the Parliamentarians League for the Promotion of the Kyushu Shinkansen Kagoshima Route and LDP local branches in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Ozawa said that the donations were used to push the LDP lawmakers into accelerating the Shinkansen project as many in the party were reluctant to promote the project because they were not sure that the new "shinkansen" will be economically viable.

In this context, Ozawa insisted that it is natural to consider the donations as bribes.

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Ogi Chikage said that she was surprised at the huge amount of donations.

She agreed with Ozawa on the point that politicians should not do something that may provoke people's suspicions. (end)