ID :
158397
Sat, 01/29/2011 - 23:30
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https://www.oananews.org//node/158397
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2 Japanese indicted prosecutors freed on bail, deny cover-up of evidence tampering
OSAKA, Jan. 29 Kyodo - Two prosecutors indicted over the cover-up of alleged tampering of evidence by a subordinate prosecutor in a high-profile criminal case were released on bail Saturday about four months after their arrests, having denied the charges.
The two -- Hiromichi Otsubo, a 57-year-old former head of a special investigative squad at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, and Motoaki Saga, a 50-year-old former deputy head of the squad -- posted bonds of 15 million yen each.
They were released after the Osaka District Court decided Friday to grant them bail and rejected an appeal Saturday by prosecutors who wanted them both kept in detention.
Both men denied the charges that they ordered Tsunehiko Maeda, the 43-year-old disgraced former prosecutor slated to stand trial from March in the evidence-tampering case, to describe the alleged act as a mistake and lied to their superiors about it.
At a news conference in Osaka after their release, both apologized to Atsuko Muraki, a senior welfare ministry official who was acquitted last September of involvement in a postal discount system abuse case in a trial following investigations led by Maeda, but again denied the charges.
''It is not a fact that I prevented the arrest of defendant Maeda,'' Saga said, adding, ''I have provided (to investigators) my accounts according to my memory since the stage of voluntary questioning'' before his arrest.
Otsubo said, ''It is disappointing that I was arrested in this way by the prosecutors. It is only natural that I put up a fight for the sake of my honor.''
Pre-trial arrangements to sort out the points of argument in their case are currently under way at the district court.
Otsubo and Saga were arrested on Oct. 1, 2010, and indicted on Oct. 21. Their lawyers filed for bail the following day, but the court had rejected the attempt on the grounds that the defendants could destroy evidence, before the filing on Thursday that proved successful.
The first session of Maeda's trial will be on March 14.
The two -- Hiromichi Otsubo, a 57-year-old former head of a special investigative squad at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, and Motoaki Saga, a 50-year-old former deputy head of the squad -- posted bonds of 15 million yen each.
They were released after the Osaka District Court decided Friday to grant them bail and rejected an appeal Saturday by prosecutors who wanted them both kept in detention.
Both men denied the charges that they ordered Tsunehiko Maeda, the 43-year-old disgraced former prosecutor slated to stand trial from March in the evidence-tampering case, to describe the alleged act as a mistake and lied to their superiors about it.
At a news conference in Osaka after their release, both apologized to Atsuko Muraki, a senior welfare ministry official who was acquitted last September of involvement in a postal discount system abuse case in a trial following investigations led by Maeda, but again denied the charges.
''It is not a fact that I prevented the arrest of defendant Maeda,'' Saga said, adding, ''I have provided (to investigators) my accounts according to my memory since the stage of voluntary questioning'' before his arrest.
Otsubo said, ''It is disappointing that I was arrested in this way by the prosecutors. It is only natural that I put up a fight for the sake of my honor.''
Pre-trial arrangements to sort out the points of argument in their case are currently under way at the district court.
Otsubo and Saga were arrested on Oct. 1, 2010, and indicted on Oct. 21. Their lawyers filed for bail the following day, but the court had rejected the attempt on the grounds that the defendants could destroy evidence, before the filing on Thursday that proved successful.
The first session of Maeda's trial will be on March 14.
