ID :
182983
Wed, 05/18/2011 - 17:06
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/182983
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Ozawa lawyers not to consent to having depositions used in trial
TOKYO, May 18 Kyodo - Lawyers for veteran lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa on Wednesday submitted to the Tokyo District Court and lawyers acting as prosecutors in his political funds scandal case a written opinion that says they will not agree to have depositions from him or other defendants used in an upcoming trial.
The defense team plans to take issue with the credibility of statements made by two of the Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker's former secretaries during investigations and to seek a ruling based on Ozawa's testimony in the trial rather than having judges weigh his statements made during investigations.
Lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, 37, and Mitsutomo Ikeda, 33, who were both Ozawa's former aides and are currently on trial over the scandal after their arrests, have alluded to the 68-year-old's involvement in the alleged falsification of his fund management body's financial reports in their statements.
They said in the statements that they reported their actions to Ozawa and obtained his approval, but Ozawa has denied his involvement both in public and during sessions of voluntary questioning by prosecutors.
His lawyers said they will also not consent to having other statements requested by the lawyers acting as prosecutors in the case that they be used in the trial, such as those made by a real estate business operator and a bank official.
In the upcoming trial, the defense team plans to argue that Ozawa is not guilty, saying an earlier decision by an independent citizens' panel to force his indictment was illegal, that he did not violate any law because he did not make any false entries in funds statements, and that he never conspired with his aides even if he were found to have violated the funds control law.
Ozawa, who ran in the DPJ presidential election last September but lost to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, was indicted on Jan. 31 by a court-appointed team of lawyers for his alleged involvement in false reporting by his Rikuzankai political fund management body.
Ozawa is credited with engineering the DPJ's landslide victory in the general election in August 2009 that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Prosecutors charged three of Ozawa's former secretaries with violating the funds control law for allegedly falsifying Rikuzankai's political funds reports. But they did not indict Ozawa, citing a lack of evidence.
The court-appointed team of three lawyers filed criminal charges against Ozawa after an independent judicial panel decided twice that he should be indicted.
The defense team plans to take issue with the credibility of statements made by two of the Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker's former secretaries during investigations and to seek a ruling based on Ozawa's testimony in the trial rather than having judges weigh his statements made during investigations.
Lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, 37, and Mitsutomo Ikeda, 33, who were both Ozawa's former aides and are currently on trial over the scandal after their arrests, have alluded to the 68-year-old's involvement in the alleged falsification of his fund management body's financial reports in their statements.
They said in the statements that they reported their actions to Ozawa and obtained his approval, but Ozawa has denied his involvement both in public and during sessions of voluntary questioning by prosecutors.
His lawyers said they will also not consent to having other statements requested by the lawyers acting as prosecutors in the case that they be used in the trial, such as those made by a real estate business operator and a bank official.
In the upcoming trial, the defense team plans to argue that Ozawa is not guilty, saying an earlier decision by an independent citizens' panel to force his indictment was illegal, that he did not violate any law because he did not make any false entries in funds statements, and that he never conspired with his aides even if he were found to have violated the funds control law.
Ozawa, who ran in the DPJ presidential election last September but lost to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, was indicted on Jan. 31 by a court-appointed team of lawyers for his alleged involvement in false reporting by his Rikuzankai political fund management body.
Ozawa is credited with engineering the DPJ's landslide victory in the general election in August 2009 that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Prosecutors charged three of Ozawa's former secretaries with violating the funds control law for allegedly falsifying Rikuzankai's political funds reports. But they did not indict Ozawa, citing a lack of evidence.
The court-appointed team of three lawyers filed criminal charges against Ozawa after an independent judicial panel decided twice that he should be indicted.
