Complaint filed against Kan over receiving 'suspicious' donations in 2007
TOKYO —
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday it has received a criminal complaint against former Prime Minister Naoto Kan related to a scandal in which a civic political group based in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, called Seiken Kotai o Mezasu Shimin no Kai (Citizens for Regime Change), is believed to have made donations totaling over 50 million yen to Kan in 2007. The complaint was filed by a Kanagawa citizens’ group.
Fuji TV first reported Tuesday that the Zama group is connected with another political group named Shimin no To (Party of Citizens), which is linked to a relative of a suspect in the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea.
The Political Funds Control Law prohibits politicians from receiving donations for political activities from foreigners and organizations whose main members are foreigners. Its purported aim is to prevent Japanese politics from being influenced by foreign countries. During the recent DPJ presidential campaign, former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara admitted to receiving around 590,000 yen in donations from ethnic Koreans, including a restaurant owner and family friend since his childhood, on five occasions between 2005 and 2010,
The complaint filed against Kan states that although he was required to provide a complete financial record of all income and expenditure, when his records are placed in chronological order, there are times when the balance was in the red. Fuji TV reported that it is therefore believed that some receipts, that should have been kept and provided on demand, are missing.
Kan is no stranger to controversy. He stepped down as DPJ leader in 2004 after admitting his failure to fully pay national pension contributions - something for which he had previously berated ruling politicians. A further scandal emerged when it came to light that he was having an affair with a television presenter, but he weathered the media storm and emerged with both marriage and career intact.
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12 Comments
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0
Serrano
Now that Kan is retired he has time to deal with this nonsense. lol.
0
Christina O'Neill
Perhaps third time not so lucky, the plot thickens
-4
Asagao
Not nonsense, it is illegal and we have judges and prisons.
0
warnerbro
The cost of politics as usual in Japan far exceeds the amount of money that can be raised by legal means. They're all doing something wrong with money and when they fall out of favour with the bureaucracy or corporate interests, by criticising nuclear power, for example, the knives come out. This situation is similar to that of the Edo period where many bakufu rules were not made public. Violations were often ignored unless and until the authorities had a special reason to crack down. The rules are public now, but ignored until the bureaucracy has reason to strike.
-1
cracaphat
All politicians have received donations from a foreigner.Just that the person was born in Japan but since he/she kept their birth name deems them a foreigner.
1
timtak
"he was having an affair with a television presenter" Is this now known for sure? He denied it at the time, and I think that Yunomoto's book makes no mention of an affair either.
-1
gachapin
Will the JT reactionaries give Kan the Ozawa treatment?
1
marcelito
Isn, it puzzling how its only DPJ politicians that are named by media recently as receiving these illegal donations ..Maehara.. Kan,...even Ozawa( not from "foreigners" in his case though)......I find it hard to believe that LDP is not guilty of the same thing to an even greater extent after so many years in power.. ..Yet the cops only seem to investigate and media report on DPJ politicians...Why?
0
ExportExpert
A politician accepting illegal donations, no way , impossible, unbelievable, never gonna happen. Yeah Right !
1
gonemad
The article tries to insinuate that Kan received donation from foreigners yet gives no details on what this accusation is based. Is this group "Seiken Kotai o Mezasu Shimin no Kai" a group of foreigners or dominated by foreigners?
Is connected to, which is linked to a relative of a suspect. What a b*llsh*t! You can construct the same type of accusation for any person on this planet.
The way this article is written is journalism at it's worst!
0
Fadamor
Now that he has stepped down, it is important to smear him as much as possible so the current P.M. looks better by comparison. His own party demanded he leave, and I would not be surprised to learn that his own party is behind this "sudden" accusation over something that allegedly happened four years ago.
0
CrazyJoe
Kan should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, if the accusations are true.
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