Shii calls for thorough parliamentary investigation into illegal donations involving LDP and DPJ

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Shii calls for thorough parliamentary investigation into illegal donations involving LDP and DPJ

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo demanded that the Diet conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations about "political donations" to politicians of both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party.

He stated as follows at a news conference in the Diet on June 25:

Recently, serious allegations have arisen that illegal donations were made to influential politicians.

One is that donations were allegedly given to Finance Minister Yosano Kaoru via a dummy entity to evade the law that prohibits such donations. It is alleged that a commodity future trading firm paid the money to Yosano's fund management body.

This is the same pattern as the Nishimatsu Construction Co.'s donations. However, in the case of Yosano, who heads the ministry overseeing corporations trading commodities futures, this allegation is very serious.

The other is donations from "ghosts," or dead persons, to Democratic Party President Hatoyama Yukio. Strangely, dead persons' names are entered in his political fund report to the government. Some contributors, not yet dead, on the report reportedly stated that they didn't make any donations.

Now that Hatoyama cannot explain this as a simple clerical error, he should be held legally accountable for the misconduct.

The facts about the allegations of illegal donations to Yosano and Hatoyama have yet to be established as well as the alleged illegal donations to former DPJ President Ozawa Ichiro and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Nikai Toshihiro from Nishimatsu Construction. None of these politicians has ever accepted responsibility for the irregularities. If the LDP and the DPJ try to continue to leave these allegations unanswered, only voters' political distrust of politics will grow.

The Japanese Communist Party strongly demands that the LDP and the DPJ accept responsibility for the series of scandals involving themselves and work hard to cleanse each part of illegal activities.

Also, the JCP proposes that both houses of the Diet carry out intensive investigations into the issue of "politics and money."

The DPJ has proposed a bill to ban corporate political donations in three years. This proposal, however, raises doubts as to why the DPJ wants to place a ban on such donations "in three years." It should call for an immediate ban on them if it truly regards corporate contributions as "not good."

Worse still, the DPJ bill calls for a review of the Political Funds Control Law so that political parties will get more political subsidies and other kinds of public assistance from the government.

Apparently, the DPJ is advocating that it will continue getting corporate funds at least for three years, and after that it is ready to receive more public subsidies than before.

No intention is seen on the part of the DPJ to change its fund sources into one of chiefly being dependent on personal contributions which will help to ensure a clean government.

If the DPJ really wants to ban corporate contributions, the party should call for its immediate ban. Also if the Democratic Party calls for a cut in government payments to politicians, it should work to get the government's political subsidies to political parties withdrawn without delay. - Akahata, June 26, 2009