Prosecutors set to quiz Ozawa over fund scandal on Sat.

TOKYO, Jan. 21 Kyodo -
Prosecutors will question ruling Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General
Ichiro Ozawa on a voluntary basis Saturday in Tokyo, but will likely forgo
approaching his wife, sources close to the case said Thursday.
Having confirmed the date with Ozawa's side, the prosecutors plan to ask
questions for about four hours centering on his own involvement -- which Ozawa
has denied -- in the alleged failure by his political fund management body to
report money it used to buy land in Tokyo in 2004.
Ozawa's former private secretary Tomohiro Ishikawa, a House of Representatives
member of the DPJ who was arrested last week over the accounting
irregularities, has told the investigators that he had reported to Ozawa that
the procedures for the land purchase were complete.
Ishikawa, 36, has also admitted that he falsely omitted reporting the money
after consulting with and gaining approval from Ozawa's state-funded secretary
Takanori Okubo, 48, who was chief accountant, to do so, the sources said.
Ozawa is set to explain that he had at least 600 million yen to hand at the
time, an amount sufficient to finance the 352 million yen land deal, including
the roughly 300 million yen he withdrew from a trust bank account in or around
1998 and had kept at home, sources close to Ozawa said.
Most of the remaining money was deposited under the names of his wife or their
three children, according to the sources.
The prosecutors suspect, however, that the land deal was partly financed by
secret donations from construction companies such as Mizutani Construction Co.,
a Kuwana, Mie Prefecture-based subcontractor in a dam project in Ozawa's
constituency in Iwate Prefecture.
They have obtained records of Ozawa's account for the past two decades from the
trust bank on a voluntary basis for reference, investigative sources said.
Ozawa's fund management body Ritsuzankai bought the land in Tokyo's Setagaya
Ward for about 354 million yen on Oct. 29, 2004, sources said earlier.
Ishikawa has told the prosecutors that he borrowed 400 million yen from Ozawa
for the deal after being asked by Okubo if the body had money, replying that it
could gather enough to finance the deal but political activities would be
affected if the money is used and consulting with Okubo, the sources said.
Okubo, who was arrested Saturday, the day after Ishikawa and another former
private secretary Mitsutomo Ikeda were arrested, is quoted as saying that he
and Ishikawa may have visited Ozawa to discuss money matters, while denying any
involvement in Ishikawa's alleged misreporting.
Meanwhile, Ikeda, 32, who succeeded Ishikawa as secretary to Ozawa, has told
investigators that he sought Okubo's approval to make books consistent after
Ishikawa's misreporting, according to the sources.
At an annual DPJ convention Saturday, Ozawa reiterated that no dubious money
was involved in the land purchase and, referring to the investigation by the
prosecutors, said he will ''fully confront such a use of power.''
Ishikawa's lawyer also said the resources for the land deal stem from funds
Ozawa inherited from his father.
But Ozawa's financial statements, which he has released each time after
election as required under a 1993 law, show that he had no savings deposits or
cash in trust.
Ozawa's father, Saeki Ozawa, a former construction minister, died in 1968.
==Kyodo