Japan Press Weekly

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2008 November 5 - 11 [SCANDAL]

Ex-vice defense chief Moriya sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for bribery

The Tokyo District Court on November 5 sentenced former Vice Defense Minister Moriya Takemasa to 2.5 years in prison for bribery and ordered him to pay about 12.5 million yen in penalties.

Concerning the defense procurement scandal involving politicians, the military, and the Japanese and U.S. military industries, Moriya was accused of taking bribes from military equipment trader Yamada Corporation and for giving false statements when he was subpoenaed to answer questions in the Diet.

The court also sentenced Miyazaki Motonobu, a former executive of Yamada Corporation, to 2 years in prison for bribing Moriya and for embezzlement.

Moriya and Miyazaki appealed the verdict on the same day.

The ruling pointed out that Moriya never refused to receive payoffs from Miyazaki and that he took it for granted that he would accept bribes in return for defense contracts. “In light of the length of time, frequency, and amounts of money he received in bribes, Moriya committed a felony crime. The court can’t help being appalled by Moriya’s lack of any moral standards as a senior government official”, the ruling stated.

The ruling also states, “Moriya’s crime discredited the defense ministry in general and should be severely dealt with.”

However, the ruling stopped short of touching on the structure of vested interests and the cozy relationship between politicians, the military, and industry regarding military equipment procurement that used more than 2 trillion yen in tax money. The entire picture of the scandal thus remains undisclosed. The possible involvement of politicians in the scandal is still unknown.

Moriya’s crime showed the depth of the dark side of corrupt practices of military administration. It is unacceptable to leave it as it is.