Not guilty, says Ozawa as funding trial opens
Source: Agencies |
October 7, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
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THE behind-the-scenes powerbroker for Japan's ruling party denied any wrongdoing yesterday as he went on trial in a political funding scandal that could undermine his influence and the struggling party's unity.
Ichiro Ozawa, who engineered the Democratic Party of Japan's rise to power in 2009, was charged this year for allegedly overseeing false accounting by his former aides in a murky 2004 land deal.
Prosecutors say that Ozawa was fully aware of the false bookkeeping by the three aides to cover up questionable funds used in the land deal, and that he authorized the false entry of the transaction in an annual political funds report to the government.
Ozawa, 69, told the Tokyo District Court yesterday that he is not guilty. "There is no such fact," he said, denying the allegations. "There was no erroneous bookkeeping, and I have never conspired with anyone."
Ozawa said his indictment was based on "unjust and illegal" investigation. "This is a wrongful trial and should be stopped immediately."
The three former aides were convicted last month over the case and have since appealed.
The scandal has damaged Ozawa's ambitions to become prime minister, though he still wields considerable influence within the party. The trial is being closely watched in Japan, where Ozawa generally has a negative public image as an old-style wheeler-dealer. More than 2,100 people lined up yesterday for 49 seats in court. The trial is likely to take months, with a ruling expected in April.
The three aides, who were tried as a group, were given suspended prison terms of up to three years for failing to register a 400 million yen (US$5.2 million) loan from Ozawa to his funding body in the Tokyo land deal and for accepting 100 million yen in illegal donations from a construction company.
Ichiro Ozawa, who engineered the Democratic Party of Japan's rise to power in 2009, was charged this year for allegedly overseeing false accounting by his former aides in a murky 2004 land deal.
Prosecutors say that Ozawa was fully aware of the false bookkeeping by the three aides to cover up questionable funds used in the land deal, and that he authorized the false entry of the transaction in an annual political funds report to the government.
Ozawa, 69, told the Tokyo District Court yesterday that he is not guilty. "There is no such fact," he said, denying the allegations. "There was no erroneous bookkeeping, and I have never conspired with anyone."
Ozawa said his indictment was based on "unjust and illegal" investigation. "This is a wrongful trial and should be stopped immediately."
The three former aides were convicted last month over the case and have since appealed.
The scandal has damaged Ozawa's ambitions to become prime minister, though he still wields considerable influence within the party. The trial is being closely watched in Japan, where Ozawa generally has a negative public image as an old-style wheeler-dealer. More than 2,100 people lined up yesterday for 49 seats in court. The trial is likely to take months, with a ruling expected in April.
The three aides, who were tried as a group, were given suspended prison terms of up to three years for failing to register a 400 million yen (US$5.2 million) loan from Ozawa to his funding body in the Tokyo land deal and for accepting 100 million yen in illegal donations from a construction company.
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