Ruling party lawmaker, Ichiro Ozawa, arrested in Japan over funding scandal
16 January 2010
TOKYO - Prosecutors Friday arrested a lawmaker from Japan's ruling party over a growing political funding scandal, further damaging the troubled government and its political kingpin.
Tomohiro Ishikawa, 36, a lower house member of the Democratic Party of Japan, was held over accounting irregularities at a political funding group run by Ichiro Ozawa, DPJ secretary general, Tokyo prosecutors said in a brief statement.
Ishikawa's arrest came as investigators probe a separate funding scandal involving Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose centre-left government took power four months ago in a landslide win masterminded by Ozawa.
Hatoyama said he was surprised by the arrest of Ishikawa, who once worked as Ozawa's aide before winning his seat.
"I am seriously surprised by the arrest of Mr. Ishikawa, a sitting lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Japan," Hatoyama said in a statement to Japanese press, according to national network Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK).
"I want to monitor the situation since I have no knowledge about the investigation," said Hatoyama, who once served as the right-hand man for 67-year-old Ozawa, a veteran backroom fixer nicknamed the "Shadow Shogun."
The arrest came two days after a special investigation unit from the Tokyo district prosecutors office raided offices related to Ozawa.
It took place on the eve of the DPJ's annual convention while the Diet, or parliament, is set to convene for a 150-day session from Monday as the opposition step up attacks against the government.
Increasing pressure further on Ozawa, Tokyo prosecutors also arrested Mitsutomo Ikeda, who also once served as an aide to Ozawa, in connection with the case to which Ishikawa has been linked.
Investigators were also reportedly seeking to arrest yet another Ozawa aide, Takanori Okubo, going through a criminal trial over a separate illegal donation allegation involving Ozawa's political funding group, called Rikuzankai.
The two arrested men face charges over a land purchase by Rikuzankai using an unregistered 400 million yen (4.4 million dollars).
Politicians use funding groups to collect and manage contributions from individual supporters.
Ozawa has maintained he and his associates are innocent of any wrongdoing and has reportedly refused to respond to prosecutors' requests to question him on a voluntary basis.
Ozawa stepped down as the head of the DPJ in last May, after Okubo was indicted over the illegal donation charge.
But Ozawa was credited with engineering the devastating poll defeat inflicted last summer on the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which had ruled Japan with only one interruption for more than five decades.
The ballooning money troubles of Ozawa and Hatoyama have increased the pressure on the government, which has seen its public support plunge to just above 50 percent in the latest polls.
Opposition parties intensified their attacks against the government.
"As a matter of principle, we will seriously press hard on the current administration's problems," said Sadakazu Tanigaki, who leads the conservative LDP.
- AFP /ls
16 January 2010
TOKYO - Prosecutors Friday arrested a lawmaker from Japan's ruling party over a growing political funding scandal, further damaging the troubled government and its political kingpin.
Tomohiro Ishikawa, 36, a lower house member of the Democratic Party of Japan, was held over accounting irregularities at a political funding group run by Ichiro Ozawa, DPJ secretary general, Tokyo prosecutors said in a brief statement.
Ishikawa's arrest came as investigators probe a separate funding scandal involving Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose centre-left government took power four months ago in a landslide win masterminded by Ozawa.
Hatoyama said he was surprised by the arrest of Ishikawa, who once worked as Ozawa's aide before winning his seat.
"I am seriously surprised by the arrest of Mr. Ishikawa, a sitting lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Japan," Hatoyama said in a statement to Japanese press, according to national network Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK).
"I want to monitor the situation since I have no knowledge about the investigation," said Hatoyama, who once served as the right-hand man for 67-year-old Ozawa, a veteran backroom fixer nicknamed the "Shadow Shogun."
The arrest came two days after a special investigation unit from the Tokyo district prosecutors office raided offices related to Ozawa.
It took place on the eve of the DPJ's annual convention while the Diet, or parliament, is set to convene for a 150-day session from Monday as the opposition step up attacks against the government.
Increasing pressure further on Ozawa, Tokyo prosecutors also arrested Mitsutomo Ikeda, who also once served as an aide to Ozawa, in connection with the case to which Ishikawa has been linked.
Investigators were also reportedly seeking to arrest yet another Ozawa aide, Takanori Okubo, going through a criminal trial over a separate illegal donation allegation involving Ozawa's political funding group, called Rikuzankai.
The two arrested men face charges over a land purchase by Rikuzankai using an unregistered 400 million yen (4.4 million dollars).
Politicians use funding groups to collect and manage contributions from individual supporters.
Ozawa has maintained he and his associates are innocent of any wrongdoing and has reportedly refused to respond to prosecutors' requests to question him on a voluntary basis.
Ozawa stepped down as the head of the DPJ in last May, after Okubo was indicted over the illegal donation charge.
But Ozawa was credited with engineering the devastating poll defeat inflicted last summer on the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which had ruled Japan with only one interruption for more than five decades.
The ballooning money troubles of Ozawa and Hatoyama have increased the pressure on the government, which has seen its public support plunge to just above 50 percent in the latest polls.
Opposition parties intensified their attacks against the government.
"As a matter of principle, we will seriously press hard on the current administration's problems," said Sadakazu Tanigaki, who leads the conservative LDP.
- AFP /ls
