Sengoku suggests Ozawa leave DPJ after being indicted+

TOKYO, Dec. 26 Kyodo -
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku suggested Sunday that Ichiro Ozawa, a
heavyweight in the Democratic Party of Japan, should leave the ruling party
after he is indicted over accounting irregularities next month.
''(A mandatory) indictment is still an indictment,'' the top government
spokesman said during a TV Asahi program, referring to the decision by an
independent judicial panel of citizens that Ozawa should be charged after
prosecutors earlier decided not to take action.
''I believe he will make a decision on his next course of action on his own,''
Sengoku said.
Sengoku also said the DPJ will have to decide what to do with Ozawa after his
indictment, which is expected to take place in January, by ''considering
precedents'' including the resignation of lower house member Tomohiro Ishikawa
from the DPJ after being indicted in the case.
Ishikawa and two other former secretaries of Ozawa have been indicted on
charges of violating the political funds control law.
Amid mounting calls from the opposition camp demanding Ozawa to be summoned to
parliament to give sworn testimony over the matter, the DPJ officials,
including Prime Minister Kan who heads the ruling party, have asked Ozawa to
appear before the House of Representatives ethics panel to explain the scandal.
But Ozawa has repeatedly refused to explain the allegations against him in
parliament, saying he will prove his innocence in court.
The DPJ is scheduled to formally decide on its policy on the testimony issue at
an executive meeting on Monday but the course of the meeting is not clear as
DPJ lawmakers close to Ozawa have voiced objections over summoning the DPJ
kingpin to the Diet.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office decided in February, and again in
May, not to indict Ozawa due to a lack of evidence, while indicting the three
former aides.
In October, however, the independent panel of citizens announced its second and
final decision that Ozawa should be indicted over his Rikuzankai political fund
management body's alleged false reporting in 2004 and 2005 of some 340 million
yen it spent to purchase land in Tokyo and its failure to book 400 million yen
it received in loans from Ozawa.
Under the revised inquest of prosecution law, a suspect must be indicted if an
inquest panel decides twice to do so. In such a case, court-appointed lawyers
will file an indictment against the suspect.
==Kyodo
2010-12-26 22:27:39