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158578
Mon, 01/31/2011 - 17:34
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https://www.oananews.org//node/158578
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Ozawa indicted over fund misreporting, political life at stake
TOKYO, Jan. 31 Kyodo - Japanese political bigwig Ichiro Ozawa was indicted Monday over accounting irregularities involving his political funds body, an anticipated move that has nonetheless cast doubt on the former Democratic Party of Japan leader's political survival.
Despite the mandatory indictment by three court-appointed lawyers, Ozawa vowed to stay in the ruling party as a lawmaker and fight to win a not-guilty verdict, telling reporters in the evening, ''My innocence will be proven of its own accord.''
The indictment came after prosecutors decided not to pursue him for a lack of implicating evidence and an independent judicial panel of citizens subsequently determined he should face charges as his involvement in the case is strongly suspected.
Ozawa, 68, will face trial on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law over false reporting of funds by his political funds management body, Rikuzankai, in connection with a land deal in Tokyo.
The indictment is likely to cast a cloud over the future of the DPJ and the government it leads, as well as Ozawa's own political survival, given the degree of influence he has wielded inside and outside the party and his role in bringing about a change of government in 2009.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who defeated Ozawa in the September DPJ presidential election, has urged the lawmaker to leave the party or resign from the Diet if indicted, as the activist-turned-lawmaker struggles to rid the ruling party of money scandals and regain voter trust.
''It's quite regrettable that Mr. Ozawa, who served as party president, has been indicted,'' Kan told reporters on Monday night, adding that the DPJ will discuss its response among party executives with party Secretary General Katsuya Okada playing a central role.
As opposition calls mounted for Ozawa to give sworn testimony in parliament about the scandal, the prime minister also urged Ozawa to explain himself in parliament -- a prospect that seems unlikely now that Ozawa indicated his unwillingness to do so because of the need to wage a court battle.
Ozawa's indictment could take a toll on the Kan government as it faces a divided parliament in which the opposition controls the House of Councillors and can block bills, including those needed to implement the budget for fiscal 2011 beginning in April.
Now that Ozawa has been indicted, the DPJ could risk sowing greater discord among its members and even see its pro-Ozawa members quit the party, depending on how Kan and the leadership handle the case, pundits say.
It is the first time that a lawmaker has become subject to the mandatory indictment rule since the inquest prosecution law was revised in May 2009.
''It's clear that this indictment was made on criteria that are totally different from those used by prosecutors for indictments,'' Junichiro Hironaka, a lawyer for Ozawa, said at a news conference.
Ozawa is charged with conspiring with three of his former aides in not listing the 400 million yen lent to Rikuzankai in its political funds report for 2004 and in listing the roughly 340 million yen used to purchase the land in a 2005 funds report, when it should have done so in a 2004 report.
The former secretaries have already been indicted over the scandal, including lower house lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, who has since left the DPJ.
Tokyo prosecutors questioned Ozawa, a former Liberal Democratic Party secretary general who has been a lower house member since 1969, on a voluntary basis four times but decided not to indict him, citing a lack of evidence.
In October, however, the 11-member judicial panel decided that he should be indicted, saying that the prosecutors' investigations were insufficient since they ''did not go beyond formalities.''
It also said the credibility of Ishikawa's statement that he had obtained Ozawa's approval for the alleged misreporting cannot be downplayed.
The panel, which looked into the case at the request of a civic group that was dissatisfied with the prosecutors' decision, also questioned where Ozawa had obtained the 400 million yen, which Rikuzankai claims it spent on the purchase of the Tokyo land, arguing that his explanations about the money were ''extremely unreasonable.''
Under the inquest prosecution law, lawyers are appointed by a court to act as prosecutors in filing charges against a suspect, making arguments and seeking penalties in court hearings.
Ozawa stepped down from the post of DPJ president in May 2009, two months after Takanori Okubo, then his state-paid secretary in charge of accounting at Rikuzankai, was arrested for allegedly giving a false report on illegal donations the group received from Nishimatsu Construction Co.
However, Ozawa returned to the position of power as DPJ secretary general -- the party's No. 2 post -- in September 2009 after the DPJ swept to power by defeating the long-governing LDP in a general election. He stood down last June, however, over the fund reporting scandal along with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Kan, who succeeded Hatoyama and has sought to clean up the DPJ, marginalized Ozawa and took a stricter stance against him late last year as he tried to prop up his Cabinet's sagging public support ratings and avoid policy gridlock in the divided parliament in the ongoing Diet session.
Despite the mandatory indictment by three court-appointed lawyers, Ozawa vowed to stay in the ruling party as a lawmaker and fight to win a not-guilty verdict, telling reporters in the evening, ''My innocence will be proven of its own accord.''
The indictment came after prosecutors decided not to pursue him for a lack of implicating evidence and an independent judicial panel of citizens subsequently determined he should face charges as his involvement in the case is strongly suspected.
Ozawa, 68, will face trial on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law over false reporting of funds by his political funds management body, Rikuzankai, in connection with a land deal in Tokyo.
The indictment is likely to cast a cloud over the future of the DPJ and the government it leads, as well as Ozawa's own political survival, given the degree of influence he has wielded inside and outside the party and his role in bringing about a change of government in 2009.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who defeated Ozawa in the September DPJ presidential election, has urged the lawmaker to leave the party or resign from the Diet if indicted, as the activist-turned-lawmaker struggles to rid the ruling party of money scandals and regain voter trust.
''It's quite regrettable that Mr. Ozawa, who served as party president, has been indicted,'' Kan told reporters on Monday night, adding that the DPJ will discuss its response among party executives with party Secretary General Katsuya Okada playing a central role.
As opposition calls mounted for Ozawa to give sworn testimony in parliament about the scandal, the prime minister also urged Ozawa to explain himself in parliament -- a prospect that seems unlikely now that Ozawa indicated his unwillingness to do so because of the need to wage a court battle.
Ozawa's indictment could take a toll on the Kan government as it faces a divided parliament in which the opposition controls the House of Councillors and can block bills, including those needed to implement the budget for fiscal 2011 beginning in April.
Now that Ozawa has been indicted, the DPJ could risk sowing greater discord among its members and even see its pro-Ozawa members quit the party, depending on how Kan and the leadership handle the case, pundits say.
It is the first time that a lawmaker has become subject to the mandatory indictment rule since the inquest prosecution law was revised in May 2009.
''It's clear that this indictment was made on criteria that are totally different from those used by prosecutors for indictments,'' Junichiro Hironaka, a lawyer for Ozawa, said at a news conference.
Ozawa is charged with conspiring with three of his former aides in not listing the 400 million yen lent to Rikuzankai in its political funds report for 2004 and in listing the roughly 340 million yen used to purchase the land in a 2005 funds report, when it should have done so in a 2004 report.
The former secretaries have already been indicted over the scandal, including lower house lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, who has since left the DPJ.
Tokyo prosecutors questioned Ozawa, a former Liberal Democratic Party secretary general who has been a lower house member since 1969, on a voluntary basis four times but decided not to indict him, citing a lack of evidence.
In October, however, the 11-member judicial panel decided that he should be indicted, saying that the prosecutors' investigations were insufficient since they ''did not go beyond formalities.''
It also said the credibility of Ishikawa's statement that he had obtained Ozawa's approval for the alleged misreporting cannot be downplayed.
The panel, which looked into the case at the request of a civic group that was dissatisfied with the prosecutors' decision, also questioned where Ozawa had obtained the 400 million yen, which Rikuzankai claims it spent on the purchase of the Tokyo land, arguing that his explanations about the money were ''extremely unreasonable.''
Under the inquest prosecution law, lawyers are appointed by a court to act as prosecutors in filing charges against a suspect, making arguments and seeking penalties in court hearings.
Ozawa stepped down from the post of DPJ president in May 2009, two months after Takanori Okubo, then his state-paid secretary in charge of accounting at Rikuzankai, was arrested for allegedly giving a false report on illegal donations the group received from Nishimatsu Construction Co.
However, Ozawa returned to the position of power as DPJ secretary general -- the party's No. 2 post -- in September 2009 after the DPJ swept to power by defeating the long-governing LDP in a general election. He stood down last June, however, over the fund reporting scandal along with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Kan, who succeeded Hatoyama and has sought to clean up the DPJ, marginalized Ozawa and took a stricter stance against him late last year as he tried to prop up his Cabinet's sagging public support ratings and avoid policy gridlock in the divided parliament in the ongoing Diet session.
