Japan Press Weekly

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2009 March 4 - 10 [POLITICS]

Total ban of corporate and organizational donations is required to close loopholes

Akahata editorial

The arrest of Democratic Party of Japan President Ozawa Ichiro’s chief secretary on suspicion of accepting illegal cash donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co., has prompted Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Nikai Toshihiro and former Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro to state that they intend to return the cash they received from Nishimatsu in donations or for fundraiser ticket sales.

New allegations have also surfaced concerning Ozawa after he denied his acceptance of any illegal cash donations.

While a complete investigation into all these allegations is necessary, a total ban on corporate donations is required to fill the law’s loopholes that allow corporations to make cash donations to politicians using political action groups.

Bribery distorts politics

It is clear that Nishimatsu Construction made donations to Ozawa and other DPJ members as well as LDP members of the Diet through political action groups headed by former Nishimatsu executives and that this method of donation was used in order to get around the Political Funds Control Law, which prohibits corporations from giving donations to politicians. Ozawa has reportedly requested the construction company to give him donations through disguised political action groups and received them over a period of years.

Cabinet member Nikai, who had sold enormous amounts of fundraiser tickets to the Nishimatsu-related political action groups, stated that he was not aware of their relations with the company. He said he will return the money anyway. However, he could not provide satisfactory explanations as to how he could be unaware of the relations in response to Japanese Communist Party representative Koike Akira’s questions at a House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting.

Sources close to Nishimatsu Construction have reportedly revealed that the company made huge amounts of cash donations to Ozawa in hopes to receive orders for public works projects in Iwate Prefecture.

Many for-profit corporations make cash donations to political parties for political favors. If they fail to get any rewards from the investment, it is natural for corporate management to be charged by their stockholders for breach of trust. If a corporation gives cash donations to a politician who has some professional authority, it is a crime of bribery. This is why corporations have been prohibited by law from donating money to politicians. However, there are loopholes that skirt the law. Corporations use their political action groups as conduits to money to politicians. They also donate money in the guise of ticket sales for fundraisers.

This does not mean that corporate donations to political parties instead of to individual politicians should be made legal. Although they have no voting rights, large corporations are giving huge amounts of money to the LDP and other political parties in order to distort politics in their favor by using their money power.

If we are to restore public trust in politics, it is essential to outlaw corporate donations either to political parties or to politicians.

Every party must answer the question

Under the present law that does not prohibit corporations from donating money directly to political parties, there are many loopholes such as allowing the use of party branches and fund managing organizations as conduits.

There is no alternative but to completely ban corporate donations if these loopholes are to be eliminated.

Prohibition of corporate donations has long been a major political issue. Both the LDP and the DPJ have been reluctant to tackle this question and their predecessors jointly deleted from the former political funds control law a provision that requires the Diet to review corporate donations to political parties.

All political parties, with the exception of the JCP, have been reluctant to revise the defective law and should now take a drastic step forward to clean up Japan’s politics.