Top 15 military contractors give 230 million yen in donations to LDP

Japan Press Weekly

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

Top 15 military contractors give 230 million yen in donations to LDP

The top 15 companies supplying military equipment, munitions, and fuel to the Self-Defense Forces under contract to the Defense Ministry gave 230 million yen, up 9% from the previous year, in political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party in FY 2008.

The total value of contracts these firms made with the Defense Ministry was 988.8 billion yen, accounting for 71.5 percent of the ministry's total of 1.38 trillion yen in contracts.

The top-ranking Mitsubishi Heavy Industries obtained a contract of 314 billion yen (22.7 percent of the DM contract) in FY 2008, and its donation to the LDP, 40 million yen, is also listed at the top. The greater the amount of the contract by the ministry, the greater is the contractor's donation to the LDP is a rule of thumb.

To the Democratic Party of Japan, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries donated 5 million yen, and IHI donated 2 million yen, through the party's political fund managing organization.

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) in July published a proposal toward establishing the nation's defense industry policy, calling on the government to secure the appropriate size budget to maintain a top-of-the-line defense and production base, invest in key sectors, and reconsider the three principles limiting arms exports.

In the aftermath of the government change following the August general election, the task before the new government is to end the collusive ties among political-bureaucratic and industrial circles over military interests as existed in past governments, and to change the course of giving unwarranted priority to the military budget.

Amounts of contract of top 15 defense contractors and their donations to LDP (FY 2008)

Contracting firms DM contract Donation to LDP (billion yen) (million yen) 1. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 314 40 2. Mitsubishi Electric 156 25 3. Kawasaki Heavy Industries 153 5 4. NEC 98 18 5. Fujitsu 44 18 6. IHI 38 16 7. Komatsu 37 11 8. Toshiba 32 38.5 9. Nakagawa Bussan 22 -- 10. Shin Nihon Sekiyu 19 -- 11. Hitachi 18 38.5 12. Cosmo Oil 16 -- 13. Daikin Industries 14 5 14. C. Itoh Aviation 14 -- 15. Fuji Heavy Industries 14 16 Total 988.8 231.2 * Donations to the LDP were made through its fund managing organization.

- Akahata, October 1, 2009