Ozawa received donations from bid-rigging firms in Iwate

Japan Press Weekly

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Ozawa received donations from bid-rigging firms in Iwate

Former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan Ozawa Ichiro was found to have received more than 40 million yen in political donations from construction companies involved in illegal biddings for public works projects in Iwate Prefecture.

Akahata on July 21 reported that this was revealed by Japanese Communist Party representative Inoue Satoshi (House of Councilors), and that political funds reports by Ozawa's two political branches show that he has accepted 40.8 million yen in donations between 2001 and 2008 from 18 firms that participated in bid-rigging deals.

Ozawa, having profound influence over public works projects in the Tohoku region and in his constituency of Iwate Prefecture, has accepted more than 16 million yen in donations from 15 firms even after they received a warning from the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Antimonopoly Law.

Political donations from corporations awarded public works contracts are actually kickbacks and a wasteful use of tax money because they gave Ozawa money from the excess profits they made from publicly-funded projects. The DPJ itself has repeatedly called for a ban on political donations from corporations that are awarded public works contracts. In fact, when Ozawa was the DPJ acting president in June last year, the party submitted to the Diet a bill to prohibit those types of donations.

Cabinet members, party executives, and other politicians who were also found to have received political donations from corporations engaged in bid-riggings have so far shown their willingness to return the money to the companies to at least give the impression of fulfilling their political and moral responsibility. However, Ozawa does not now and has never intended to return the money in question.

Not only receiving political donations from companies involved in illegal bids, Ozawa allegedly has cozy ties with general construction contractors like Nishimatsu Construction Co. and Kajima Corporation.

- Akahata, July 21, 2010