Deals between Nishimatsu, Ozawa began over decade ago: sources+

TOKYO, March 5 Kyodo -
Opposition party leader Ichiro Ozawa and Nishimatsu Construction Co. began
arranging deals in the mid-1990s when the general contractor created groups
designed to facilitate political donations, informed sources said Thursday.

Deals were apparently made around 1995 so that Nishimatsu would donate roughly
25 million yen every year to Ozawa, resulting in some 300 million yen in total
donations over more than a decade, the sources said.
Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan and a strong candidate to
become prime minister if his party ousts the Liberal Democratic Party from
power in a general election this year, came under fire after his secretary,
Takanori Okubo, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of receiving illegal
corporate donations from Nishimatsu.
Sources familiar with investigations by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors
Office, meanwhile, quoted a Nishimatsu office as saying that Nishimatsu's
donations were intended to gain Ozawa's favor in relation to public works
projects in northeastern Japan.
The prosecutors are now investigating the flows and motives of such donations
while suspecting that Ozawa might have realized the illegality of the money in
question, they said.
On Thursday, the prosecutors searched Okubo's home in Iwate Prefecture, which
is also Ozawa's constituency.
In the investigations conducted thus far, another Nishimatsu official said the
company wanted to maintain a ''friendly relationship'' with Ozawa considering
his powerful influence in the Tohoku region, the sources said.
They added that former Nishimatsu President Mikio Kunisawa has admitted making
donations to Ozawa in hopes of receiving an order associated with the
construction of the Isawa dam in Iwate Prefecture. Kunisawa has been arrested
for allegedly violating the political funds control law.
According to a report required for lawmakers to submit on donations they
receive, two Nishimatsu-related groups donated a total of 33 million yen from
2004 to 2006 to three Ozawa-linked organizations.
The political funds control law prohibits corporations and organizations, such
as labor unions, from providing donations to politicians, and requires
political organizations to correctly report the amount and source of donations
they receive.
Ozawa said Wednesday he will stay in his post, accusing prosecutors of
conducting an ''unfair'' investigation.
==Kyodo