2009 December 16 - 22 [
POLITICS]
DPJ is urged to investigate fund-raising for Ozawa
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December 19, 2009
The Tokyo District Court held the first hearing on December 18 over the allegation that the office of Ozawa Ichiro, the secretary general of the Democratic Party, illegally collected political donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co.
Not only Ozawa’s main secretary Okubo Takanori, who is charged with falsifying the financial records in violation of the Political Funds Control Law, but also Ozawa himself must be held accountable for the scandal.
Okubo, a state-paid secretary to Ozawa, has denied the charge.
In the opening statement, the prosecutor argued that in predetermining companies to be awarded contracts for public works projects mainly in northeastern Japan, Ozawa’s office used to issue a "heavenly voice” to induce general contractor construction companies to donate political funds.
Citing affidavits given by executives of several construction companies in charge of public works projects, the prosecutor revealed details of how the Ozawa office demanded that these companies make cash donations for elections.
It has been revealed that Nishimatsu used at least two fictitious political action groups, which were represented by former executives of Nishimatsu, in order to give huge amounts of donations to Dietmembers of the Liberal Democratic and Democratic parties.
A total of about 480 million yen was contributed to the office from 1995 to 2006, when these two dummy groups were operating.
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Asked by reporters at the Diet, Kokuta Keiji, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission chair, commented as follows:
“Revealing new evidence, the prosecutors argued at the trial that the money from Nishimatsu was disguised as money from fictitious political action groups, a trick commonly used to conceal the identity of the actual donors from public purview.”
Citing the affidavit given in a separate trial by former Nishimatsu Construction President Kunisawa Mikio that Nishimatsu needed (Ozawa’s) "heavenly voice" as well as the 100 million yen fund from Mizutani Construction allegedly donated to the DPJ, Kokuta stressed that further inquires should be given in later trials.
“Along with the court trial, a thorough investigation must be made into the case in the parliament. Specifically, Ozawa himself is called upon to explain to the public his political and moral responsibilities for the scandal,” he added.
Concerning Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio’s vague attitude on this illegal fund issue because Ozawa is out of his cabinet, Kokuta said, “Now that Secretary General Ozawa is a key figure in the DPJ, Hatoyama must inquire into the matter as the top representative of the party.”
- Akahata, December 19, 2009
