Rikuzankai indictment will be final blow: Cabinet chief
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku suggested Sunday that Democratic Party of Japan kingmaker Ichiro Ozawa should leave the ruling party following his likely indictment next month over accounting irregularities.
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The comments came a day after the DPJ's latest failed bid to repair the intraparty rift being created by the Ozawa issue.
A meeting brokered Saturday by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the ruling party's single most important base of support, failed to make progress in deciding how the party should handle Ozawa's money scandal.
"(A mandatory) indictment is still an indictment," the government's top spokesman said on a TV Asahi program. He was referring to the decision of an independent judicial panel of citizens that said Ozawa should be charged despite the fact that prosecutors earlier decided not to take any action in the case.
"I believe he will make a decision on his next course of action on his own," Sengoku said, employing a veiled phrase often used to tell politicians to resign.
Ozawa's indictment is expected to take place in January.
Sengoku said the DPJ will have to decide what to do by "considering precedents," including the case of fellow DPJ member Tomohiro Ishikawa, who resigned from the Lower House after being indicted in the Ozawa case. Ishikawa and two other former Ozawa secretaries have been charged with violating the political funds control law.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office decided in February, and again in May, not to indict Ozawa due to a lack of evidence, but indicted the three former aides.
In October, however, the independent panel of citizens announced in its second and final decision that Ozawa should be indicted over allegedly false financial reports in 2004 and 2005 submitted by Rikuzankai, his political fund management body, about some ¥340 million spent to purchase land in Tokyo, and its failure to book ¥400 million it received in loans from Ozawa.
Under the revised inquest of prosecution law, a suspect must be indicted if an inquest panel decides twice to do so. In such a case, court-appointed lawyers will file an indictment against the suspect.
Meanwhile, Sengoku said on the same TV program that the DPJ should explore ways to strengthen its control either by changing coalition partners or inviting a third party to join it.
"That's an option we have to keep in mind," the government's top spokesman said.
After an overture made by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Sengoku hinted that he is amenable to an alliance with Sunrise Party of Japan.
The addition of Sunrise Party would be a plus for the DPJ-led government, even if only its cohead, Kaoru Yosano, agrees to join hands.
While Yosano is said to be leaning toward the proposal, other Sunrise Party members appear to be reluctant.
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