ID :
121935
Thu, 05/13/2010 - 21:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/121935
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Ozawa to submit to questioning, speak in Diet over scandal+
HIROSHIMA, May 13 Kyodo -
Japan's ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa said Thursday he will comply with a
request by prosecutors and submit to questioning over his fund management
body's alleged false reporting of political funds, and will also attend a Diet
panel to explain the case.
''By fully explaining (the case) to voters and the public, I believe I can gain
their understanding and support,'' said the 67-year-old secretary general of
the governing Democratic Party of Japan in a press conference held in
Hiroshima.
It would be the third time for Ozawa to be questioned by the prosecutors over
the scandal.
A senior DPJ lawmaker said, meanwhile, Ozawa would explain the case at the
Deliberative Council on Political Ethics at the House of Representatives in the
week starting May 24, possibly with doors open to reporters.
The ethics panel is basically held behind closed doors but it can be made open
with the consent of the person subject to its deliberations. Unlike a sworn
witness who will be punished if false testimony is given, no penalties are
imposed over remarks made before the panel.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office asked Ozawa on Wednesday to
submit to questioning. The prosecutors relaunched the investigations after an
independent judicial panel decided April 27 that Ozawa warrants indictment over
his Rikuzankai fund management body's alleged false reporting of political
funds in 2004 and 2005.
Investigative sources said the prosecutors plan to look again into whether
Ozawa conspired with three of his former secretaries in the misreporting of
political funds.
The prosecutors will decide by the end of May whether to slap criminal charges
on Ozawa, the sources said.
Even if they decide not to, an 11-member inquest panel would again look into
the prosecutors' decision. If the panel decides by a majority of more than
eight members in favor of indictment, a team of court-appointed lawyers will
act as prosecutors and file criminal charges against Ozawa, according to the
inquest of prosecution law.
In February, the prosecutors decided not to charge Ozawa, citing a lack of
evidence, after questioning him twice in January.
They indicted then DPJ House of Representatives member Tomohiro Ishikawa, 36, a
former secretary of Ozawa, for misreporting funds at Rikuzankai. Ishikawa left
the party after being indicted on suspicion of violating the political funds
control law.
The prosecutors also charged Takanori Okubo, 48, a former state-financed
secretary to Ozawa, and Mitsutomo Ikeda, 32, another former secretary of Ozawa.
According to the indictment against the former secretaries, they failed to list
the 400 million yen Rikuzankai borrowed from Ozawa in the group's 2004 report
and the same amount of money repaid to him in the 2007 report.
They also failed to list the 352 million yen spent to purchase Tokyo land in
the 2004 report and erroneously entered the expenditure of the same amount in
the 2005 report, according to the prosecutors.
The prosecutors have also asked the three former secretaries to submit to
questioning. Of them, Ishikawa and Ikeda have shown readiness to comply with
the request. Okubo is also considering accepting the request, sources familiar
with the matter said.
In the April 27 decision, the 11-member Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest
of Prosecution voted in favor of Ozawa's indictment with a majority of more
than eight votes.
In that decision, the inquest panel noted that Ishikawa, currently an
independent member of the lower house, confessed to prosecutors that he
reported to and consulted with Ozawa before filing the 2004 funds report.
It also cited Ikeda's deposition to prosecutors that he briefed Ozawa and
obtained his endorsement before submitting the 2005 funds reports.
Ozawa has acknowledged to have loaned 400 million yen to the fund management
body in 2004 but has denied any involvement in the alleged misreporting. He has
also categorically denied receiving reports or being consulted by the former
secretaries.
Opposition New Komeito party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi welcomed Ozawa's intention
to explain himself before the parliamentary ethics panel, saying it is a ''most
realistic means to perform his duty to establish accountability'' to voters.
Yamaguchi said he wants to see Ozawa do his explaining at an open session and
not behind closed doors.
But Yasukazu Hamada, chief deputy chairman of the No. 1 opposition Liberal
Democratic Party's Diet Affairs Committee, told reporters Ozawa should testify
as a sworn witness at the lower house's Budget Committee.
Ozawa, who headed the DPJ between 2006 and 2009, is regarded as the most
powerful figure in the ruling party. Ozawa's successor as DPJ leader, Yukio
Hatoyama, picked Ozawa as party secretary general following the DPJ's victory
in the 2009 general election for the House of Representatives.
==Kyodo
2010-05-13 23:24:24
Japan's ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa said Thursday he will comply with a
request by prosecutors and submit to questioning over his fund management
body's alleged false reporting of political funds, and will also attend a Diet
panel to explain the case.
''By fully explaining (the case) to voters and the public, I believe I can gain
their understanding and support,'' said the 67-year-old secretary general of
the governing Democratic Party of Japan in a press conference held in
Hiroshima.
It would be the third time for Ozawa to be questioned by the prosecutors over
the scandal.
A senior DPJ lawmaker said, meanwhile, Ozawa would explain the case at the
Deliberative Council on Political Ethics at the House of Representatives in the
week starting May 24, possibly with doors open to reporters.
The ethics panel is basically held behind closed doors but it can be made open
with the consent of the person subject to its deliberations. Unlike a sworn
witness who will be punished if false testimony is given, no penalties are
imposed over remarks made before the panel.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office asked Ozawa on Wednesday to
submit to questioning. The prosecutors relaunched the investigations after an
independent judicial panel decided April 27 that Ozawa warrants indictment over
his Rikuzankai fund management body's alleged false reporting of political
funds in 2004 and 2005.
Investigative sources said the prosecutors plan to look again into whether
Ozawa conspired with three of his former secretaries in the misreporting of
political funds.
The prosecutors will decide by the end of May whether to slap criminal charges
on Ozawa, the sources said.
Even if they decide not to, an 11-member inquest panel would again look into
the prosecutors' decision. If the panel decides by a majority of more than
eight members in favor of indictment, a team of court-appointed lawyers will
act as prosecutors and file criminal charges against Ozawa, according to the
inquest of prosecution law.
In February, the prosecutors decided not to charge Ozawa, citing a lack of
evidence, after questioning him twice in January.
They indicted then DPJ House of Representatives member Tomohiro Ishikawa, 36, a
former secretary of Ozawa, for misreporting funds at Rikuzankai. Ishikawa left
the party after being indicted on suspicion of violating the political funds
control law.
The prosecutors also charged Takanori Okubo, 48, a former state-financed
secretary to Ozawa, and Mitsutomo Ikeda, 32, another former secretary of Ozawa.
According to the indictment against the former secretaries, they failed to list
the 400 million yen Rikuzankai borrowed from Ozawa in the group's 2004 report
and the same amount of money repaid to him in the 2007 report.
They also failed to list the 352 million yen spent to purchase Tokyo land in
the 2004 report and erroneously entered the expenditure of the same amount in
the 2005 report, according to the prosecutors.
The prosecutors have also asked the three former secretaries to submit to
questioning. Of them, Ishikawa and Ikeda have shown readiness to comply with
the request. Okubo is also considering accepting the request, sources familiar
with the matter said.
In the April 27 decision, the 11-member Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest
of Prosecution voted in favor of Ozawa's indictment with a majority of more
than eight votes.
In that decision, the inquest panel noted that Ishikawa, currently an
independent member of the lower house, confessed to prosecutors that he
reported to and consulted with Ozawa before filing the 2004 funds report.
It also cited Ikeda's deposition to prosecutors that he briefed Ozawa and
obtained his endorsement before submitting the 2005 funds reports.
Ozawa has acknowledged to have loaned 400 million yen to the fund management
body in 2004 but has denied any involvement in the alleged misreporting. He has
also categorically denied receiving reports or being consulted by the former
secretaries.
Opposition New Komeito party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi welcomed Ozawa's intention
to explain himself before the parliamentary ethics panel, saying it is a ''most
realistic means to perform his duty to establish accountability'' to voters.
Yamaguchi said he wants to see Ozawa do his explaining at an open session and
not behind closed doors.
But Yasukazu Hamada, chief deputy chairman of the No. 1 opposition Liberal
Democratic Party's Diet Affairs Committee, told reporters Ozawa should testify
as a sworn witness at the lower house's Budget Committee.
Ozawa, who headed the DPJ between 2006 and 2009, is regarded as the most
powerful figure in the ruling party. Ozawa's successor as DPJ leader, Yukio
Hatoyama, picked Ozawa as party secretary general following the DPJ's victory
in the 2009 general election for the House of Representatives.
==Kyodo
2010-05-13 23:24:24
