ID :
122672
Tue, 05/18/2010 - 07:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/122672
The shortlink copeid
Prosecutors question ex-aide over Ozawa political funds case+
TOKYO, May 17 Kyodo - Prosecutors on Monday questioned a former secretary to Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa after the ruling party's No. 2 denied again Saturday any involvement in the alleged false reporting of his political funds, sources familiar with the matter said.
If the prosecutors, who reopened the case following a decision last month by an
independent judicial panel, fail to obtain a new statement from Tomohiro
Ishikawa, a former private aide to Ozawa indicted in the case, they will again
find it difficult to indict Ozawa.
Ozawa suggested at a press conference Monday that he would be willing to appear
before a House of Representatives ethics panel, an appearance that is currently
being arranged, as ''one of the ways (I would take) if it helps to win people's
understanding.''
The panel normally holds sessions behind closed doors, but Ozawa also suggested
that he might accept a session open to the media.
Ishikawa, who is now a lower house member, said in a statement that the Tokyo
District Public Prosecutors' Office interrogated him for four-and-a-half hours
on a voluntary basis Monday afternoon.
The prosecutors, who once dropped the case against Ozawa, are reinvestigating
it as the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution decided April 27
that the ruling party kingpin merits indictment, saying, ''A conspiracy
(between Ozawa and Ishikawa) is strongly suspected.''
But during Monday's questioning, Ishikawa denied conspiring with his former
boss, the sources said.
The judicial review panel of randomly selected citizens noted that Ishikawa,
36, who left the DPJ after his indictment, confessed to prosecutors that he
reported to and consulted with Ozawa before filing a 2004 report in which he
allegedly failed to list 400 million yen that Ozawa's fund management body
borrowed from Ozawa and 352 million yen it spent to purchase land in Tokyo.
It also cited a deposition by Mitsutomo Ikeda, 32, another former secretary
indicted in the case, saying that he briefed Ozawa and obtained his endorsement
before submitting a 2005 funds report in which the expenditure for the land
deal was misstated.
The prosecutors are expected to also question Ikeda and Takanori Okubo, 48, the
other former secretary indicted in the case who was a state-financed aide, by
Tuesday.
Ozawa has acknowledged loaning 400 million yen to his Rikuzankai funds body in
2004 but has denied any involvement in the alleged false reporting, saying he
did not receive reports and was not consulted by the former secretaries
regarding the matter.
In dropping the case against Ozawa in February, the prosecutors judged that
Ishikawa's statement lacked specifics and was insufficient to charge Ozawa.
During Saturday's questioning held at a Tokyo hotel for about four-and-a-half
hours, Ozawa is believed to have again denied that he had been informed of the
accounting irregularities by the former aides.
==Kyodo
If the prosecutors, who reopened the case following a decision last month by an
independent judicial panel, fail to obtain a new statement from Tomohiro
Ishikawa, a former private aide to Ozawa indicted in the case, they will again
find it difficult to indict Ozawa.
Ozawa suggested at a press conference Monday that he would be willing to appear
before a House of Representatives ethics panel, an appearance that is currently
being arranged, as ''one of the ways (I would take) if it helps to win people's
understanding.''
The panel normally holds sessions behind closed doors, but Ozawa also suggested
that he might accept a session open to the media.
Ishikawa, who is now a lower house member, said in a statement that the Tokyo
District Public Prosecutors' Office interrogated him for four-and-a-half hours
on a voluntary basis Monday afternoon.
The prosecutors, who once dropped the case against Ozawa, are reinvestigating
it as the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution decided April 27
that the ruling party kingpin merits indictment, saying, ''A conspiracy
(between Ozawa and Ishikawa) is strongly suspected.''
But during Monday's questioning, Ishikawa denied conspiring with his former
boss, the sources said.
The judicial review panel of randomly selected citizens noted that Ishikawa,
36, who left the DPJ after his indictment, confessed to prosecutors that he
reported to and consulted with Ozawa before filing a 2004 report in which he
allegedly failed to list 400 million yen that Ozawa's fund management body
borrowed from Ozawa and 352 million yen it spent to purchase land in Tokyo.
It also cited a deposition by Mitsutomo Ikeda, 32, another former secretary
indicted in the case, saying that he briefed Ozawa and obtained his endorsement
before submitting a 2005 funds report in which the expenditure for the land
deal was misstated.
The prosecutors are expected to also question Ikeda and Takanori Okubo, 48, the
other former secretary indicted in the case who was a state-financed aide, by
Tuesday.
Ozawa has acknowledged loaning 400 million yen to his Rikuzankai funds body in
2004 but has denied any involvement in the alleged false reporting, saying he
did not receive reports and was not consulted by the former secretaries
regarding the matter.
In dropping the case against Ozawa in February, the prosecutors judged that
Ishikawa's statement lacked specifics and was insufficient to charge Ozawa.
During Saturday's questioning held at a Tokyo hotel for about four-and-a-half
hours, Ozawa is believed to have again denied that he had been informed of the
accounting irregularities by the former aides.
==Kyodo
