scandal

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Former LDP vice president Yamasaki should be indicted: prosecution inquest panel

The Tokyo Dai-Ni Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution decided on July 27 to reverse a prosecutor's earlier decision and said that former Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Yamasaki Taku should be indicted for failing to declare the receipt of money in donations from the powerful Japan Dental Association's lobbying group.

The panel, comprising 11 appointees from among citizens, said that Yamasaki, LDP secretary general at the time, failed to report his acceptance of 30 million yen in donation from the JDA's political action group.

It pointed out that the donor falsely declared that it donated 50 million yen to the National Political Association, the LDP's fund-raising group in order to conceal the fact that 30 million yen went to Yamasaki and 20 million yen to two other senior LDP members.

The panel pointed out that there was no need for the donor to enter the donation in three separate payment slips if the money (50 million yen) was donated to the National Political Association.

Referring to Yamasaki's statement before the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office, the panel said, "Mr. Yamasaki told the prosecutors that he received 50 million yen in cash in an envelop in donation to the LDP and that he kept it in the LDP secretary general's locker for about a month. But it is improbable that such a large amount of money would be handled that way."

Koizumi's responsibility

In a statement published on the same day concerning the decision of the Tokyo Dai-Ni Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, House of Representatives member Sasaki Kensho said that not only former LDP Vice President Yamasaki Taku but Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro bears great responsibility as LDP President for having denied that any political donations to the LDP had been funneled to Yamasaki and other LDP politicians.

"The JCP demands that the Diet immediately subpoena senior LDP politicians, including former Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro, to testify before the House of Representatives Budget Committee. -- Akahata, July 28, 2005