Sengoku says no problem with use of political funds for son's firm+

TOKYO, Aug. 29 Kyodo -
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said Sunday there was no problem with
the provision of funds by political bodies supporting him to a company run by
his eldest son as they were paid as fees to cover part of the activities by the
bodies.
Sengoku, the chief government spokesman and Prime Minister Naoto Kan's
right-hand man, told reporters that the three political bodies paid a total 3.2
million yen, or 100,000 yen per month, to the son's real estate management
company for two years and eight months until last December.
The three bodies had a consignment contract with the company to have it receive
telephone calls and the mail, he said, denying a suspected misappropriation of
political funds.
Earlier in the day, a newspaper report said the funds provided by the political
bodies were suspected of having been used to cover the eldest son's costs,
including the rent of a judicial scrivener office represented by him.
The report comes at a time when a tug-of-war is escalating in the ruling
Democratic Party of Japan ahead of the Sept. 14 party leadership election
expected to be a one-on-one battle between Kan and former DPJ Secretary General
Ichiro Ozawa.
The three political bodies are housed in a room of a building in Tokyo's Minato
Ward together with Sengoku's lawyer office and the son's office.
==Kyodo
2010-08-29 23:44:20


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