January 21, 2017
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2017 January 18 - 24 [SOCIAL ISSUES]
Tokyo will hold ex-Gov. Ishihara accountable in court on Toyosu market issue |
Making a 180-degree turn in policy, the metropolitan government will embark on revealing ex-Governor Ishihara Shintaro’s involvement in the reckless project in which he invested as much as 600 billion yen in taxpayers’ money.
A legal action over this issue has been pending. Several Tokyo residents in the civil trial have been demanding that the metropolitan government claim damages of 57.8 billion yen from former Governor Ishihara as the cost spent on the buying of the site. The plaintiffs argue that Tokyo’s purchase of the former gas plant site at eye-opening highly inflated prices as replacement of the conventional Tsukiji market is illegal. Another issue in contention before the court has been why Tokyo Gas Co., the polluter, paid only 7.8 billion yen in soil decontamination work while Tokyo paid 58.6 billion yen for that work.
The Japanese Communist Party members’ group of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly issued a statement in the name of the group’s secretary general, Oyama Tomoko, welcoming the present Tokyo Governor’s decision. Oyama in the statement demands that the metropolitan assembly launch an ad hoc committee on this issue in addition to a special investigation commission based on Article 100 of the Local Autonomy Act. She expressed her determination to commit herself to carefully looking into the allegations and determining former Governor Ishihara’s responsibility.
Plaintiff Mizunoya Kazuko, an architect, said, “We hope all persons involved will tell the truth in court.”
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Oshiro Satoru said that the Tokyo decision to reverse its earlier stance is very important and that Tokyo should disclose all the information it has concealed up to now.
Past related article:
> Tokyo JCP demands drastic review of plan to move Tsukiji market to Toyosu [January 17, 2017]
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