 Diet must summon witnesses to probe into covert donation to LDP Hashimoto faction: Shii Takigawa Toshiyuki, a former treasurer of the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction which was led by former Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro, has revealed that the faction's senior leaders agreed not to report the 100 million yen donated by the political arm of the Japan Dental Association (JDA). In the first trial at the Tokyo District Court on November 24 over Takigawa's violation of the Political Funds Control Law, he said that former Chief Cabinet Secretary Muraoka Kanezo, former Secretary General Nonaka Hiromu, and two other senior faction leaders instructed that the donation go unrecorded in the faction's political funds report. Takigawa in the court said that around July 3, 2001, Hashimoto handed him a white envelope containing a check for 100 million yen, saying, "This is from the JDA lobby." The donor wanted a receipt for it. Takigawa consulted with faction leaders about what to do, and the leaders' meeting decided that no receipt should be issued, and that no record should be made in the income report. Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at a news conference on November 24, said that parliament must take over the task of probing into the suspected bribery and the involvement of the LDP headquarters in the faction's crime. He demanded that the Diet summon former Prime Minister Hashimoto and other LDP politicians concerned as witnesses under oath. Shii said the problem is that the lobbying arm of the JDA donated 100 million yen in an attempt to improve its relations with the Hashimoto faction over the government dental policy, strongly suggesting it to be a bribe. Shii also said that the court recognized the fact that the faction leaders' meeting made a decision on not reporting the donation. He said that the Diet must thoroughly unveil the crime committed by a political party faction. (end) |