陸山会事件 裁判で「小沢氏資金」の解明を

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Feb. 9, 2011)
Court must unravel Ozawa money trail
陸山会事件　裁判で「小沢氏資金」の解明を（2月8日付・読売社説）

The trial of three former secretaries of ruling party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa quickly became an all-out battle between the defendants and prosecutors soon after it opened Monday.
　冒頭から全面対決の様相となった。

The first hearing for House of Representatives member Tomohiro Ishikawa and the two other former secretaries opened at the Tokyo District Court. They were charged in connection with a suspicious land deal involving Rikuzan-kai, the political funds management body of Ozawa, a former Democratic Party of Japan president. The three former secretaries are charged with violating the Political Funds Control Law.
　民主党の小沢一郎元代表の資金管理団体「陸山会」の土地取引を巡る事件で、政治資金規正法違反に問われた石川知裕衆院議員ら元秘書３人の公判が始まった。

Prosecutors insist the secretaries did not register 400 million yen, which the group had borrowed from Ozawa to purchase the land, in Rikuzan-kai's political funds reports because the money originally had come from a source that they did not want to identify.
　小沢氏から借り入れた土地購入原資の４億円が出所を明らかにできない金だったため、政治資金収支報告書に記載しなかった――というのが、検察側の主張だ。

Ishikawa and the other secretaries have pleaded not guilty and insisted they had not falsified statements in the funds reports.
　これに対し、石川議員らは「虚偽の記載をした認識はない」などと否定し、無罪を訴えた。

In the same case, Ozawa was recently indicted based on decisions by a judicial panel comprising citizens on charges of violating the same law, and his trial is expected to begin this summer at the earliest. He is accused of conspiring with the three secretaries to cover up the money trail. The secretaries' trial shares many pieces of evidence and points of contention with the Ozawa trial. Therefore, it is shaping up as a prelude to--and likely will be a barometer for the outcome of--Ozawa's trial.
　この事件では、小沢氏自身も検察審査会の議決に基づき、共犯として強制起訴されたばかりだ。証拠や争点の多くが重なる元秘書３人の裁判は、夏以降に始まると見られる小沢氏の裁判の行方を占う前哨戦の意味合いもあろう。

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Still waiting for explanation

Ozawa has given inconsistent explanations regarding where the 400 million yen in question came from, a key focus in the trial. We hope the trial will fully uncover the source of the money and what it was actually intended for.
　焦点となっている土地購入原資の４億円について、小沢氏は説明を二転三転させてきた。裁判では４億円の出所や趣旨を徹底的に明らかにしてもらいたい。

In their opening statement, prosecutors said Ozawa's office had received illegal donations from a general contractor in connection with a dam construction order around the same time it had borrowed the money from Ozawa. The prosecutors apparently intended to emphasize the maliciousness of falsifying a statement in a political funds report.
　検察側は冒頭陳述で、「小沢氏からの借り入れと同時期に、小沢事務所は建設業者からダム工事の受注に絡んで裏献金を受領していた」とも言及した。虚偽記載という行為の悪質性を強調する狙いがあるのだろう。

However, the defendants denied receiving the donation. The trial will hinge on whether prosecutors can prove the credibility of a statement by the construction firm, which allegedly said it handed the cash to Ozawa's secretaries.
　石川議員らは受領自体を否定している。「金を届けた」とする業者側の供述の信用性を検察がどこまで立証できるかが鍵を握る。

The Ozawa office's alleged reception of illegal donations from a construction firm in exchange for exercising influence over the selection of a contractor in a public works project has shades of a separate trial involving Nishimatsu Construction Co. That case came to light about two years ago.
　公共工事の業者選定への影響力を背景に、小沢事務所が建設業者から資金提供を受ける構図は、２年前に摘発された西松建設の違法献金事件の裁判でも浮上した。

While repeatedly criticizing prosecutors and the committee for the inquest of prosecution, Ozawa has yet to provide an explanation that would clear up the allegations against him. Furthermore, he has not come forward to answer questions in the Diet about the scandal. Although Ozawa now is a defendant in a criminal case, we think he still has a responsibility as a politician to explain himself in the Diet.
　小沢氏はこれまで検察や検察審査会への批判を繰り返す一方で、詳細な説明を避けている。国会招致も実現していない。被告人の立場になったとはいえ、政治家として国会で説明する必要がある。

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Prosecutors in spotlight

The public is certainly watching the investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office--which has handled a number of cases involving politicians--more closely than ever before.
　一方、数々の政界事件を手がけてきた東京地検特捜部の捜査手法に、今、かつてない厳しい目が注がれているのも事実である。

Ishikawa and the other secretaries have claimed testimonies they gave during interrogations--in which they admitted the allegations--were not credible because they were not made voluntarily. They allege the forceful investigation led them to make incriminating statements against their will.
　石川議員らは「強引な取り調べで供述を誘導された」として、捜査段階で容疑を認めた供述調書の任意性や信用性を争っている。

The defendants' testimonies have a direct bearing on the core questions in this case. If these confessions are deemed to be not credible, it could not only determine the direction of Ozawa's trial but also raise questions about the prosecution's investigation, which was built on statements by people involved.
　この裁判で、事件の根幹にかかわる供述調書の信用性などが否定されれば、小沢氏の裁判の方向性を決めかねないばかりか、関係者の供述を積み重ねて真相解明を試みてきた特捜部の捜査の在り方も問われることになる。

The prosecutors will need to carefully prove each of the defendants' testimonies were made of their own free will and are credible.
　検察には、供述調書の任意性や信用性を一つひとつ丁寧に立証していくことが求められよう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 8, 2011)
（2011年2月8日01時47分 読売新聞）