Prosecutors Question DPJ Lawmaker over Land Deal

Tokyo, Dec. 28 (Jiji Press)--Prosecutors have questioned a lawmaker
of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan over a land purchase deal by a fund
management group of DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa after the group was
said to have allegedly failed to report more than 400 million yen over the
deal, it was learned Monday.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is believed to have
questioned Tomohiro Ishikawa, a 36-year-old member of the House of
Representatives, on details about the money the group used to buy the land
in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, informed sources said.
The questioning, which was conducted on a voluntary basis in Tokyo
on Sunday, lasted for about six hours, the sources said.
The fund management body, Rikuzankai, bought the land for about 340
million yen from a Tokyo real estate company on Oct. 29, 2004. But the
spending was booked in the group's fund management report for 2005, not in
the 2004 report, according to the sources.
When the purchase took place, Ishikawa, a former aide to Ozawa, was
in charge of administrative matters at Rikuzankai.
The Rikuzankai side has explained that the group bought the land
using 400 million yen it borrowed from a financial institution on
400-million-yen time deposits put as collateral.
According to the sources, however, the payment for the land deal
was made before the group received the loans.
While the group's fund management report for 2004 showed that its
revenue in the year totaled 330 million yen, it allegedly failed to book
more than 400 million yen in the report.
Following the questioning, the prosecutors office will decide
whether to build a case against Ishikawa for violation of the political
funds control law by the time the next parliamentary session opens in
January, according to the sources.