Ozawa's office made ultimate determination in choosing bid winners+

TOKYO, June 19 Kyodo -
The office of Ichiro Ozawa, former head of the main opposition Democratic Party
of Japan, ultimately determined the winners in bidding for public works
projects in Iwate and Akita prefectures, and Nishimatsu Construction Co.
provided illegal donations to his side to win favor so that it could win the
bids, prosecutors said Friday.

Prosecutors made the statements at the first court hearing for a former head of
the scandal-tainted general contractor, Mikio Kunisawa, 70, who was indicted
for illegally donating the money to Ozawa's fund management body.
Kunisawa was indicted in March for allegedly providing 5 million yen in illegal
political donations to Ozawa's office around October 2006 through what are
believed to be Nishimatsu dummy entities in violation of the Political Funds
Control Law.
''It was a heinous crime that ignores the purpose of the law to secure the
transparency of political funds and prevent corruption,'' the prosecutors told
the Tokyo District Court, demanding an 18-month prison term for Kunisawa.
The defendant ''hid the cozy monetary relationship between a contractor and a
politician over bidding for public works projects from public eyes,'' the
prosecutors said.
Kunisawa pleaded guilty and told the court, ''I lacked law-abiding sensitivity.
I deeply regret that I prioritized the profits of my company...I thought it
(the illegal donations) were a necessary evil to win the competitions.'' His
defense council is seeking a suspended term.
The verdict will be handed down July 14.
Together with Kunisawa, Ozawa's secretary, Takanori Okubo, 48, was charged with
receiving the donations from Nishimatsu Construction and with falsely reporting
them as donations from the dummy entities. The indictment of Okubo led to the
resignation of Ozawa as DPJ chief in May.
The prosecution said Okubo, a state-funded secretary to Ozawa, had been engaged
in negotiations over the amount of Nishimatsu's donations to Ozawa's office and
also in making the ultimate determination in deciding winning bids.
Nishimatsu won four contracts out of five projects in the two prefectures, it
said.
The prosecutors also said Okubo had been aware that the donations from the
entities were actually from Nishimatsu itself.
Okubo will plead not guilty at his trial, which is likely to be held after the
upcoming general election, according to sources close to him.
After resigning as DPJ chief, Ozawa assumed the party's deputy presidency in
charge of election affairs later in May. Ozawa's constituency is in Iwate
Prefecture.
Kunisawa, meanwhile, headed the Tokyo-based general contractor before resigning
in January to take responsibility for the funds scandal.
In February, Kunisawa was separately charged with bringing 70 million yen into
the country without reporting it to customs authorities in violation of the
foreign exchange and foreign trade law.
Keiji Fujimaki, 68, a former Nishimatsu vice president who was indicted as an
accomplice of Kunisawa for violating the foreign exchange law, pleaded guilty
together with his former boss.
==Kyodo