Prosecutors were correct not to indict in political money scandal
Kyodo News
A prosecution inquest committee said Monday it has decided that the decision by prosecutors not to indict Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
over allegedly false reporting of political donations by his fund management bodies from 2004 to 2008 was appropriate.
over allegedly false reporting of political donations by his fund management bodies from 2004 to 2008 was appropriate.The panel of 11 citizens selected by lottery reached the decision last Wednesday in closed-door consultations after a citizens' group filed a complaint against the prosecutors' decision not to indict the prime minister.
It is the first decision of its kind involving a sitting prime minister.
The panel said it reached the decision because no one related to the case except a former secretary to Hatoyama had knowledge about the false reporting of the funds. The panel also couldn't find a reason why Hatoyama would deliberately take part.
The decision came after the Tokyo District Court's decision Thursday to sentence Keiji Katsuba, 59, the former government-paid secretary of Hatoyama, to two years in prison, suspended for three years, for falsifying political funding reports at the prime minister's fund management and political organizations.
Hatoyama's approval ratings have since sagged ahead of this summer's Upper House election. He was not indicted due to insufficient evidence of his involvement.
However, prosecutors indicted without arrest another former secretary who has already been fined ¥300,000 in the case.
The panel, however, said some members questioned the petition Hatoyama submitted to the prosecutors, in which he said he knew nothing about the false reporting and the huge amount of funds, worth some ¥1.25 billion, his mother provided for his political activities between 2002 and 2009.
The panel also said some members thought the Political Funds Control Law should be revised to toughen its rules because it falls in favor of politicians.
Under the revised inquest of prosecution law, 11 citizens chosen by lottery look at a decision by prosecutors and are able to issue a judgment that a person should be indicted, a power that had been given only to prosecutors.
The panel's move was welcomed by DPJ members, including its Upper House lawmakers who will be fighting for their seats in the July election.
"Frankly speaking, I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the news," said the DPJ's Michiyoshi Yuzuki, a Lower House representative from Okayama Prefecture.
representative from Okayama Prefecture.He added that a decision to indict by the panel would have been the last nail in the coffin, with the administration already driven into a corner over the relocation issue involving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
Yoetsu Suzuki, a DPJ Upper House member facing the July election, said the inquest panel made the right decision, but the campaign won't be any easier because of it.
The Japan Times
