Indicted ex-Ozawa aide Ishikawa to leave DPJ, but remain in Diet

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TOKYO, Feb. 11 Kyodo -
Tomohiro Ishikawa, a Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker and former aide to DPJ
Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, will leave the ruling party Monday, as his
resignation letter was accepted by the party Thursday following his indictment
over funding irregularities in connection with a Tokyo land deal.
But the 36-year-old House of Representatives lawmaker said he will not give up
his status as a Diet member, telling a press conference in the city of Obihiro,
Hokkaido, that he will continue to ''serve to the local area and nation'' and
''fulfill my responsibility.''
Ishikawa, whose constituency is in Japan's northernmost prefecture, said that
he decided to resign because he does not want to cause any trouble to the
party, led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, at a time when the Diet is
proceeding with deliberations on a fiscal 2010 budget.
But his resignation from the DPJ could be a blow to the government, which aims
to pass the budget at an early date, as the opposition camp will likely
continue to demand that Ishikawa resign as a lawmaker as well and that Ozawa
step down to take the blame for the funds scandal, which also resulted in the
indictment of one other former secretary and a current aide to Ozawa.
Earlier Thursday, Ishikawa, who is serving his second term, tendered his
resignation letter to Ozawa through Wakio Mitsui, head of the DPJ's Hokkaido
chapter and the party's deputy chief of Diet affairs, at the party's head
office in Tokyo.
His resignation, which comes against a backdrop of criticism from not only
opposition lawmakers but also some in the ruling camp, will be formally
approved at a senior officials' meeting Monday.
After accepting the resignation, Ozawa told reporters, ''It is a decision he
made and I understand he does not want to cause any more trouble to the party
and the people.''
Ozawa, a 67-year-old former DPJ chief who was not indicted due to lack of
evidence, reiterated that his former private secretary had not been charged for
any act committed since he became a lawmaker or for any serious crime such as
tax evasion, but simple accounting errors.
''So we did not move to encourage him to leave the party, but left the decision
up to him,'' Ozawa said.
Ishikawa, who worked for Ozawa's Rikuzankai funds management body, was indicted
Feb. 4 for failing to log 400 million yen in income for it, which was allegedly
used to purchase the land in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, in violation of the
Political Funds Control Law.
Opposition lawmakers already launched their attack against Ishikawa on
Thursday, with Tadamori Oshima, secretary general of the main opposition
Liberal Democratic Party, telling reporters, ''I don't think he can get away
with just a departure from the party, and he needs to explain to the Diet.''
Oshima also expressed the view that the opposition bloc may not respond to Diet
deliberations on the budget for the new fiscal year from April 1 depending on
how the DPJ deals with the case.
Opposition parties have submitted to parliament a resolution demanding that
Ishikawa resign as a Diet member, although there will probably not be a vote on
it as the ruling bloc is opposed to it.
Even the Social Democratic Party, one of the DPJ's two junior partners, decided
to request that Ishikawa appear at a lower house panel to provide a full
account on the funding scandal.
Speaking to the press Tuesday in Obihiro, Ishikawa declared he would not resign
as a lawmaker or leave the party, citing that his local supporters have
encouraged him to stay on.
But the following day, he conveyed his intention to leave to party officials,
apparently giving in to the unrelenting calls.
Ishikawa won his first Diet seat in the lower house in 2007 following the
resignation of a DPJ lawmaker and was reelected in the election last August,
defeating veteran LDP lawmaker Shoichi Nakagawa, who is now deceased.
==Kyodo
2010-02-11 21:12:14