The Liberal Democratic Party will boycott the expected vote at the Lower House ethics panel to summon Ichiro Ozawa because the nonbinding motion is unlikely to compel the powerful ruling party lawmaker to publicly comment on his funding scandal, an LDP executive said Sunday.
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A former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Ozawa is slated to meet Monday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who heads the party, but is expected to again refuse a request to voluntarily attend the panel, party sources said.
"Mr. Ozawa will not turn up even if it is voted for. We have no plans to be an accomplice to (the DPJ's) setting up of an alibi (that it acted on the Ozawa scandal)," LDP Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara said on a TV talk show. "Sworn testimony will be given if Prime Minister Kan manages to persuade members within his DPJ. That is true leadership." Members of the LDP, to which Ozawa once belonged, had been demanding that Ozawa give sworn testimony.
The DPJ is committed to putting the matter to a vote at the ethics panel if Ozawa continues to refuse to attend after his upcoming talks with Kan, DPJ Deputy Secretary General Yukio Edano said on the same NHK program.
As the 25-member panel comprises 17 from the DPJ, seven from the LDP and one from the LDP's former ruling coalition partner, New Komeito, and can hold a meeting if a majority is present, a boycott by the opposition parties will not disrupt proceedings should all DPJ members take part.
The panel has no authority to force a politician to attend. Unlike sworn testimony, remarks made before the panel cannot subsequently lead to charges of perjury.
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