ID :
144859
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 10:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/144859
The shortlink copeid
Ozawa to face mandatory indictment given judicial panel decision
TOKYO, Oct. 4 (Kyodo) - An independent judicial panel said Monday that former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa should be indicted over a political funds scandal involving his fund management body, making him the first politician to be indicted under the review system.
In the decision dated Sept. 14, but disclosed only Monday, the citizens' panel
said prosecutors' reinvestigations into the senior House of Representatives
member's role in alleged false financial reporting by his Rikuzankai fund body
in 2004 and 2005 were insufficient, making it certain that he will be indicted
by a court-appointed lawyer.
While Ozawa, 68, has denied involvement in the matter, the panel's decision
could bring down the political bigwig, who has been at the center of the
nation's political scene for over 20 years since he was a member of the Liberal
Democratic Party, as calls could grow for him to leave the DPJ or even
parliament.
''I am convinced that I will certainly be proven innocent in the trial,'' Ozawa
said in a statement on Monday evening. ''I have told the prosecutors' office
everything I know, and it twice decided not to indict me. So the Committee for
the Inquest of Prosecution's decision today is very regrettable.''
With Ozawa having declared during a DPJ presidential campaign last month that
he would contest the charges against him should he be indicted, the coming
trial is likely to be a long and fierce battle with possibly multiple lawyers
acting as prosecutors.
The decision by the 11-member Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of
Prosecution came after its initial decision in April that Ozawa merited
indictment, which forced prosecutors to take another look at the case, though
they decided again not to indict Ozawa due to a lack of evidence.
Prosecutors' reinvestigation ''did not go beyond formalities'' and was
therefore insufficient, the panel said in its second decision, adding that
their decisions not to indict Ozawa for Political Funds Control Law violations
are questionable given statements made by his aides.
Statements by Ozawa's former aides, including lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, were
crucial to evaluating whether Ozawa was involved in the alleged false reporting
by his fund management body.
Noting that the credibility of Ishikawa's statement that he had reported
alleged misreporting to Ozawa and obtained his approval cannot be downplayed,
the panel said there are ''questions'' about prosecutors' decisions not to
indict Ozawa.
Under the revised inquest of prosecution law that took effect in May last year,
a court-appointed lawyer acting as a prosecutor files criminal charges if a
minimum of eight members of such a judicial panel decide for a second time in
favor of indictment. Ozawa's case will be the fourth indictment under the
system.
Ishikawa and two other former aides of Ozawa have been charged chiefly with
failing to enter 400 million yen borrowed from Ozawa in the fund management
body's 2004 report and the return of the sum to him in the body's 2007 report.
They also allegedly reported that around 352 million yen had been used to buy
land in Tokyo in 2005 when the transaction took place in 2004.
While indicting the three in February, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors
Office decided not to prosecute Ozawa due to insufficient evidence after
questioning him twice in January. That prompted a citizens group to file a
complaint against the decision.
In its April decision, the inquest panel concluded that a conspiracy between
Ozawa and the three former aides was ''strongly suspected'' and that he
therefore merited indictment.
''I will refrain from making a comment at this point because I haven't grasped
the situation,'' Prime Minister and DPJ President Naoto Kan said of the panel's
second decision during his visit to Belgium.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said it is hard to predict
how the government will be affected. ''It is unknowable,'' he told a news
conference when asked about the decision's potential impact on the DPJ-led
government.
DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada stopped short of saying how his party
should deal with Ozawa, saying he would wait until after Ozawa expresses his
opinion on the matter.
In a sign of potential views within the DPJ in favor of Ozawa's departure,
Seishu Makino, an acting chief of the DPJ Diet Affairs Committee told
reporters, ''I personally think he should naturally leave the party. We need a
decision as a party, such as his expulsion or a recommendation that he may
leave.''
Main opposition LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki indicated that Ozawa should
resign as a lawmaker, telling reporters, ''The assertion by Kan and others that
(Ozawa) has fulfilled his responsibility to explain himself turned out to be a
mere facade.''
Rikuzankai bought a plot of land in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward in October 2004 to
build a dormitory for his secretaries, according to Ozawa. His former aides
were arrested in January on suspicion of falsely reporting the land purchase
and other funds but have denied the allegation.
The prosecutors also investigated allegations that some of the money used for
the land transaction came from shady funds from Mizutani Construction Co., a
Kuwana, Mie Prefecture-based firm that subcontracted a dam project in Ozawa's
turf in Iwate Prefecture, but have filed no charges over such funds which Ozawa
and the ex-aides have denied ever receiving.
The Tokyo No. 1 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, which reviewed the
fund management body's alleged falsification of its 2007 funds report, decided
in July that prosecutors' decision not to indict Ozawa over the case was
unjust.
Acting on the panel decision, the prosecutors revisited the case but decided
again last Thursday not to indict him due to a lack of evidence, concluding
probes into the allegations concerning the 2007 report.
Ozawa headed the DPJ between 2006 and 2009, resigning from the post in May 2009
over a separate funds scandal. Ozawa's successor as DPJ leader, Yukio Hatoyama,
picked Ozawa as party secretary general following the party's sweeping victory
in the 2009 lower house election. But Ozawa stepped down from the post in June,
along with Hatoyama as DPJ leader and prime minister, over the latest fund
reporting scandal.
Ozawa sought to make a comeback by running for the DPJ presidency, but lost to
Kan, the incumbent DPJ leader, in a party election on Sept. 14. Given the DPJ's
comfortable majority in the lower house, a DPJ leader is effectively assured of
being elected prime minister.
In the decision dated Sept. 14, but disclosed only Monday, the citizens' panel
said prosecutors' reinvestigations into the senior House of Representatives
member's role in alleged false financial reporting by his Rikuzankai fund body
in 2004 and 2005 were insufficient, making it certain that he will be indicted
by a court-appointed lawyer.
While Ozawa, 68, has denied involvement in the matter, the panel's decision
could bring down the political bigwig, who has been at the center of the
nation's political scene for over 20 years since he was a member of the Liberal
Democratic Party, as calls could grow for him to leave the DPJ or even
parliament.
''I am convinced that I will certainly be proven innocent in the trial,'' Ozawa
said in a statement on Monday evening. ''I have told the prosecutors' office
everything I know, and it twice decided not to indict me. So the Committee for
the Inquest of Prosecution's decision today is very regrettable.''
With Ozawa having declared during a DPJ presidential campaign last month that
he would contest the charges against him should he be indicted, the coming
trial is likely to be a long and fierce battle with possibly multiple lawyers
acting as prosecutors.
The decision by the 11-member Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of
Prosecution came after its initial decision in April that Ozawa merited
indictment, which forced prosecutors to take another look at the case, though
they decided again not to indict Ozawa due to a lack of evidence.
Prosecutors' reinvestigation ''did not go beyond formalities'' and was
therefore insufficient, the panel said in its second decision, adding that
their decisions not to indict Ozawa for Political Funds Control Law violations
are questionable given statements made by his aides.
Statements by Ozawa's former aides, including lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, were
crucial to evaluating whether Ozawa was involved in the alleged false reporting
by his fund management body.
Noting that the credibility of Ishikawa's statement that he had reported
alleged misreporting to Ozawa and obtained his approval cannot be downplayed,
the panel said there are ''questions'' about prosecutors' decisions not to
indict Ozawa.
Under the revised inquest of prosecution law that took effect in May last year,
a court-appointed lawyer acting as a prosecutor files criminal charges if a
minimum of eight members of such a judicial panel decide for a second time in
favor of indictment. Ozawa's case will be the fourth indictment under the
system.
Ishikawa and two other former aides of Ozawa have been charged chiefly with
failing to enter 400 million yen borrowed from Ozawa in the fund management
body's 2004 report and the return of the sum to him in the body's 2007 report.
They also allegedly reported that around 352 million yen had been used to buy
land in Tokyo in 2005 when the transaction took place in 2004.
While indicting the three in February, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors
Office decided not to prosecute Ozawa due to insufficient evidence after
questioning him twice in January. That prompted a citizens group to file a
complaint against the decision.
In its April decision, the inquest panel concluded that a conspiracy between
Ozawa and the three former aides was ''strongly suspected'' and that he
therefore merited indictment.
''I will refrain from making a comment at this point because I haven't grasped
the situation,'' Prime Minister and DPJ President Naoto Kan said of the panel's
second decision during his visit to Belgium.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said it is hard to predict
how the government will be affected. ''It is unknowable,'' he told a news
conference when asked about the decision's potential impact on the DPJ-led
government.
DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada stopped short of saying how his party
should deal with Ozawa, saying he would wait until after Ozawa expresses his
opinion on the matter.
In a sign of potential views within the DPJ in favor of Ozawa's departure,
Seishu Makino, an acting chief of the DPJ Diet Affairs Committee told
reporters, ''I personally think he should naturally leave the party. We need a
decision as a party, such as his expulsion or a recommendation that he may
leave.''
Main opposition LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki indicated that Ozawa should
resign as a lawmaker, telling reporters, ''The assertion by Kan and others that
(Ozawa) has fulfilled his responsibility to explain himself turned out to be a
mere facade.''
Rikuzankai bought a plot of land in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward in October 2004 to
build a dormitory for his secretaries, according to Ozawa. His former aides
were arrested in January on suspicion of falsely reporting the land purchase
and other funds but have denied the allegation.
The prosecutors also investigated allegations that some of the money used for
the land transaction came from shady funds from Mizutani Construction Co., a
Kuwana, Mie Prefecture-based firm that subcontracted a dam project in Ozawa's
turf in Iwate Prefecture, but have filed no charges over such funds which Ozawa
and the ex-aides have denied ever receiving.
The Tokyo No. 1 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, which reviewed the
fund management body's alleged falsification of its 2007 funds report, decided
in July that prosecutors' decision not to indict Ozawa over the case was
unjust.
Acting on the panel decision, the prosecutors revisited the case but decided
again last Thursday not to indict him due to a lack of evidence, concluding
probes into the allegations concerning the 2007 report.
Ozawa headed the DPJ between 2006 and 2009, resigning from the post in May 2009
over a separate funds scandal. Ozawa's successor as DPJ leader, Yukio Hatoyama,
picked Ozawa as party secretary general following the party's sweeping victory
in the 2009 lower house election. But Ozawa stepped down from the post in June,
along with Hatoyama as DPJ leader and prime minister, over the latest fund
reporting scandal.
Ozawa sought to make a comeback by running for the DPJ presidency, but lost to
Kan, the incumbent DPJ leader, in a party election on Sept. 14. Given the DPJ's
comfortable majority in the lower house, a DPJ leader is effectively assured of
being elected prime minister.
