ID :
154474
Thu, 12/23/2010 - 07:06
Auther :

Police send papers to prosecutors on collision video leak case

TOKYO, Dec. 22 Kyodo -
Tokyo police sent papers to prosecutors Wednesday on a Japan Coast Guard
officer who has admitted leaking diplomatically sensitive footage of collisions
between Chinese and Japanese vessels near the disputed Senkaku Islands, leading
to the officer's resignation.
The Coast Guard said it was planning to suspend Masaharu Isshiki, a 43-year-old
officer of the Kobe Coast Guard Office, from duty for one year, but had
accepted his letter of resignation.
Isshiki was the navigator of the Uranami patrol boat until late November and
had been serving at an onshore post since then. He recently offered to leave
the Coast Guard, and his resignation took effect Wednesday.
''I have no regrets (about leaking the footage),'' Isshiki said in an
interview at his home in Kobe. ''I had expected (that the police would send
papers on the case to prosecutors).''
Japan Coast Guard Commandant Hisayasu Suzuki told a press conference that the
Coast Guard had decided on the one-year suspension after taking into account
that Isshiki had confessed to posting the video and had not benefited
financially, although his leaking of a piece of evidence in a criminal case was
a serious matter.
The Coast Guard also said it had decided to take disciplinary action against
Suzuki, who will receive a pay cut of 10 percent for one month, and 22 other
officers.
One year is the longest suspension at the Japan Coast Guard, while it is the
first time that its head has received punishment, according to the Coast Guard.
Meanwhile, Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi
said he will return 10 percent of his pay for one month to the state coffers.
''Deliberately leaking information he obtained through work is an unacceptable
act and I sincerely apologize for letting the incident undermine public trust
in the Japan Coast Guard,'' the minister told reporters.
Mabuchi said that the ministry will set up a task force to drastically review
ways of handling data in future.
Isshiki is alleged to have violated the National Public Service Law prohibiting
civil servants from divulging secrets obtained in the course of their work.
Prosecutors are expected to make a decision on the case early next year with a
suspension of indictment most likely, according to investigative sources.
Isshiki is suspected of copying the footage of the Sept. 7 collisions between a
Chinese trawler and Coast Guard boats in mid-October on a USB data storage
device from a shared personal computer aboard the Uranami and editing it on a
computer at his home.
He then allegedly posted it on the YouTube video-sharing website from a
personal computer at an Internet cafe in Kobe on the night of Nov. 4. He
deleted it the following morning.
One of his colleagues on the Uranami is believed to have downloaded the video
onto the computer on the boat from a shared folder on a computer terminal at
the Japan Coast Guard Academy. The video was temporarily accessible at the
academy.
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that 36 officers viewed the footage and 16
downloaded it.
Isshiki confessed to leaking the footage, which was posted online in six clips
totaling 44 minutes, to his supervisor while aboard the vessel on Nov. 10, and
admitted to investigators during questioning, held on a voluntary basis, that
he had leaked the video.
One of the clips showed the Chinese trawler slamming into a Coast Guard patrol
boat in the incident in the East China Sea that led to the worst diplomatic row
in recent years between Tokyo and Beijing.
The Japanese government has withheld the video from the public, apparently to
avoid angering China, although it has shown a shortened version to a limited
number of lawmakers despite calls from opposition parties for its release.
The Coast Guard arrested the Chinese trawler's captain on Sept. 8 on suspicion
of obstructing public duties by causing one of the collisions intentionally.
The captain was later released but tension between the two countries spiked
over the incident off the chain of islets, administered by Japan but claimed by
China and Taiwan.
==Kyodo

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