Ozawa asks court to invalidate inquest panel verdict for his indictment+

TOKYO, Oct. 15 Kyodo -
Japan's ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa went to court Friday seeking a
decision to suspend judicial procedures on his mandatory indictment over
alleged involvement in false financial reporting by his political fund
management body.
Ozawa, 68, a former leader of the governing Democratic Party of Japan, filed a
suit against the government with the Tokyo District Court to nullify the Sept.
14 decision by an independent judicial panel of 11 citizens that he should be
indicted over the funds scandal.
Ozawa also filed a separate suit asking the court not to pick a team of lawyers
who would act as prosecutors to indict him.
His action marks the beginning of the first court battle against the government
over an inquest panel decision since the revised inquest of prosecution law
came into force in May 2009 giving such panels the power to effect mandatory
indictment.
On Friday, Ozawa's legal agents unveiled a summary of the suit to reporters,
which said Ozawa's mandatory indictment would ''seriously restrict'' his
political activities and also represent a ''loss to Japan's democracy.''
In April, the 11-citizen panel, called the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the
Inquest of Prosecution, unanimously decided Ozawa warranted indictment, acting
upon a complaint by a citizens' group against the prosecutors' decision not to
indict him.
The prosecutors relaunched investigations following the panel decision but
later decided again not to indict Ozawa
In a second decision dated Sept. 14, which was made public on Oct. 4, the No. 5
panel decided for a second time that Ozawa should be indicted.
On Friday, Ozawa's lawyers took issue with the panel, in its second decision,
stating that Ozawa's Rikuzankai funds management body failed to enter 400
million yen borrowed from Ozawa in its funding report as the source of
financing to purchase a tract of land in Tokyo. The panel concluded that this
failure constituted part of the criminal act involving the group.
But Ozawa's lawyers noted that the citizens' group did not touch on such a
failure in its complaint, insisting that referring to something that was not
the subject of a complaint was misuse of power on the part of the judicial
panel.
The lawyers also highlighted the fact that the failure was not incorporated in
the panel's first decision, arguing that the panel illegally reached the
decision to indict Ozawa without examining related facts twice, as required by
the law. They also said indicting someone based on such an unlawful decision
would violate the Constitution.
In a precedent-setting judgment in 1966, the Supreme Court ruled that no suit
can be filed against a decision by an inquest panel.
But Ozawa's lawyers said the top court's precedent does not apply to Ozawa's
case because it was set before the inquest of prosecution law was revised.
Meanwhile on Friday, opposition parties renewed calls to summon Ozawa to
parliament for questioning over the funds scandal.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara accused Ozawa of
''completely lacking an awareness of his political and ethical
responsibilities.''
The Japanese Communist Party's Diet affairs committee chairman Keiji Kokuta
said Ozawa should testify as a sworn witness at the Diet, accusing the ruling
party of blocking such testimony.
Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida and opposition New Komeito Secretary General
Yoshihisa Inoue declined to comment.
Ozawa has denied any involvement in the funds scandal. Three of his former
aides have been charged with violating the political funds control law over the
alleged false reporting.
A committee for the inquest of prosecution has been set up at all of the
country's district courts to review prosecutors' decisions not to file
indictments, usually acting on complaints mainly from crime victims or their
relatives.
In Japan, prosecutors hold sole authority over whether to file or not to file
criminal charges.
Two or more such panels are established at larger district courts such as those
in Tokyo and Osaka.
Under the revised inquest of prosecution law that came into force in May 2009
as part of Japan's judicial reform program, indictments are mandatory if an
inquest panel decides twice that a suspect should be indicted.
In such a case, a court-appointed lawyer will file an indictment against the
suspect.
According to the indictment against Ozawa's former aides, the Rikuzankai funds
management body failed to book in its 2004 report 545 million yen in income,
including 400 million yen borrowed from Ozawa, plus some 352 million yen used
to buy land in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward.
Ozawa, who served as DPJ president between April 2006 and May 2009, helped the
DPJ score a landslide victory in the 2009 general election for the House of
Representatives.
While his successor Yukio Hatoyama was prime minister between September 2009
and June 2010, Ozawa served as party secretary general and wielded huge
political clout.
Ozawa contested the Sept. 14 DPJ presidential election but lost to Prime
Minister Naoto Kan.
==Kyodo
2010-10-15 19:18:04