Prosecutors quiz Ozawa again, poised to indict Ishikawa+

TOKYO, Feb. 2 Kyodo -
Prosecutors are poised to indict lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa on Thursday, while
continuing to investigate his former boss and ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa
over the alleged false reporting of the latter's political funds, sources close
to the case said Monday.
Ozawa, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, suggested the same
day he may stand down from the ruling party's No. 2 post if prosecutors press
criminal charges against him, though he doubts they will, over the allegations
linked to the body's 2004 purchase of land in Tokyo.
''Should I be criminally charged, my responsibility would be heavy,'' he told a
regular news conference at the DPJ's head office in Tokyo, while acknowledging
that he was questioned by prosecutors for a second time Sunday in Tokyo.
Ozawa, a former DPJ chief and key campaign strategist for the House of
Councillors election this summer, again denied having received any illegal
funds and said he doubts he would ever be criminally charged.
Ishikawa, a House of Representatives member who was a secretary to Ozawa, was
arrested last month on suspicion of failing to book 400 million yen in a 2004
report of Ozawa's fund body Rikuzankai in violation of the Political Funds
Control Law.
Thursday is the deadline for the prosecutors to detain Ishikawa, 36, and two
others under arrest over the case -- Mitsutomo Ikeda, 32, who succeeded
Ishikawa as secretary, and Takanori Okubo, 48, Ozawa's current state-paid
secretary.
The investigators at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office will decide
whether to press criminal charges against the other two by considering the
degree of their involvement in the case.
Ozawa, who has been accused by a civic group as a conspirator in the case, said
he told the prosecutors everything he was aware of and it was basically the
same as what he told them during the first questioning on Jan. 23.
He said he will continue to cooperate with the prosecutors if their
investigation is fair, adding that his second voluntary questioning took place
in Tokyo and lasted around three hours.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is also leader of the DPJ, only said,
speaking to reporters after Ozawa's press conference, that whether Ozawa should
stay on or resign ''is a decision that he should make.''
Ozawa told a press conference after his first questioning on Jan. 23 that he
had told the investigators the 400 million yen used for buying the land in
Tokyo's Setagaya Ward in October 2004 was part of his private assets and had
been kept at his office.
The prosecutors suspect that the unreported 400 million yen included 50 million
yen provided by Mizutani Construction Co., a subcontractor on a project to
build Isawa Dam in Iwate Prefecture, where Ozawa's constituency is located.
Ishikawa was in charge of accounting at Rikuzankai before being elected to the
Diet. Investigative sources say Ishikawa has admitted that he deliberately did
not list the 400 million yen provided by Ozawa in Rikuzankai's fund report.
Earlier Monday, Hatoyama said he will continue to watch ''in a calm manner''
how the prosecutors' investigation develops.
''As the prosecutors are now probing the case, we don't have any choice but to
follow it in a calm manner,'' Hatoyama told reporters.
His comments came after some DPJ heavyweights, including transport minister
Seiji Maehara and former DPJ policy chief Yukio Edano, suggested Sunday that
Ozawa may have to step down as party secretary general if the case takes
another turn and the public reacts against it.
Ozawa told Monday's press conference that they had not conveyed their opinions
directly to him.
''People will have their own views on the case,'' Hatoyama said. ''It is
necessary to work to win their understanding by achieving accountability.''
On Monday evening, Tadamori Oshima, secretary general of the main opposition
Liberal Democratic Party, said the fact that Ozawa had been questioned for a
second time indicates the investigation is proceeding smoothly.
==Kyodo
2010-02-02 00:15:34