Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa will voluntarily submit to questioning by prosecutors Saturday about a suspected violation of the Political Funds Control Law by Rikuzan-kai, his political fund management organization, sources close to the issue said Thursday.
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office will probably ask Ozawa to explain how Rikuzan-kai procured the 400 million yen it used to purchase a piece of land in 2004, a transaction that the prosecutors are investigating, and whether he knew about the false recording of the land deal and money flow in the organization's political funds reports.
Last Friday and Saturday, the prosecutors arrested one of Ozawa's aides and two former aides, including House of Representatives member Tomohiro Ishikawa, 36. Ishikawa was administrative chief of Rikuzan-kai at the time of the land deal, and Ozawa's first state-funded secretary, Takanori Okubo, 48, was then the accounting chief of Rikuzan-kai. Okubo is already facing other charges related to the case.
On Jan. 5, the prosecutors asked Ozawa to voluntarily submit to questioning, but he refused. However, as the case has progressed to encompass the arrest of the three and searches of related offices, Ozawa has changed his attitude and decided to meet with the prosecutors for questioning, the sources said.
Ozawa's questioning will focus on information provided to prosecutors by Ishikawa that Ozawa gave a prior approval to his proposal not to record the 400 million yen in that year's political funds report.
Aides 'consulted' on report
Other sources said Ishikawa had told the prosecutors that he also gained approval from Okubo not to record the 400 million yen in Rikuzan-kai's political funds report for 2004.
The prosecutors believe that Ozawa, Ishikawa and Okubo conspired to make the false records in Rikuzan-kai's political funds reports.
According to the investigation, in early October 2004, Ishikawa, who was administrative chief of Rikuzan-kai, received 400 million yen in cash from Ozawa and transferred the money into two or more bank accounts of the organization.
On Oct. 29, 2004, Rikuzan-kai purchased the plot of land in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, with the money.
According to the sources, before the land purchase, Ishikawa first consulted Okubo, who was then the organization's accounting chief.
They agreed that it was better not to record the 400 million yen from Ozawa in Rikuzan-kai's political funds report for 2004, and to change the date of the register of the land ownership to 2005.
Ishikawa told the prosecutors that they agreed to report the decision to Ozawa.
Ishikawa told the prosecutors that later in October 2004, Ishikawa consulted with Ozawa about not recording the money flow in Rikuzan-kai's report for the year and Ozawa gave his approval. Ishikawa did not record the 400 million yen of income in Rikuzan-kai's report for 2004 and made the registration of the land purchase in 2005 despite having bought it in 2004.
As a result, Rikuzan-kai's expenditure of about 352 million yen for the land purchase and other activities were recorded as spending in 2005.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
