Ozawa pleads not guilty as trial gets under way

Crime Oct. 06, 2011 - 02:00PM JST ( 39 )

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39 Comments

9

IronBeardOct. 06, 2011 - 02:24PM JST

Any normal member of the public would be held in a detention center until the trial reaches its conclusion.

Also 'stop this trial immediately' is a pretty crappy defence.
-4

JapanGalOct. 06, 2011 - 02:26PM JST

Oh come on. Give our beloved Ozawa a break. Find him not guilty, and let him suet the pants out of Japan.
0

Tamesu SanOct. 06, 2011 - 02:46PM JST

"Japan’s mainstream media has long been critical of Ozawa’s strong political influence, which is based on his vast wealth"

and you know that......he from Iwate prefecture .....will his vast wealth help the stricken people of the 893 Iwate prefecture?
7

gogogoOct. 06, 2011 - 02:56PM JST

As the trial began, Ozawa read a statement criticizing prosecutors who investigated the case in the months leading up to the Democratic Party of Japan’s stunning 2009 election victory which was overseen by Ozawa.

He is threaten the court, he seems to think he is untouchable and that should you go against him you will be punished. This guy needs serious jail time.
6

gogogoOct. 06, 2011 - 02:58PM JST

Ozawa’s supporters say he has been unfairly targeted by opponents of his drive to weaken the overwhelming influence of bureaucrats in Japanese decision-making and bring politics back to the people.

Ozawa is Mr Bureaucrat and big business he doesn't care for the people.
2

Jared NormanOct. 06, 2011 - 03:13PM JST

Just go to jail, do not collect $200, collect ¥200 for the JR line closet to your house instead and go directly to jail.
4

zichiOct. 06, 2011 - 03:22PM JST

Give him 10 years of hard labor working in Fukushima!!!
-3

smithinjapanOct. 06, 2011 - 03:29PM JST

"What the court appointed lawyers said was wrong!"

Not sure that 'defense' would work in any other nations, but it might well here. I think the worst we're going to see, if anything, is a suspended sentence. That would be damaging given the power the man wields, but still. I pray he gets SOMETHING, though, because not only is he corrupt, he is definitely going to gun for the PM's seat... AGAIN... and eventually he'll get it.
-12

some14someOct. 06, 2011 - 03:30PM JST

Veteran politician Ichiro Ozawa is tried and treated unfairly. Infact, he is only capable leader (at present) who can steer Nippon out of crisis (Tohoku/recession/pessimism..) No, foreign powers do not want this gentleman to lead the country.
0

JapanGalOct. 06, 2011 - 03:36PM JST

Even if he goes to jail, it will be a special cushy jail and he will run things from in there just like Al Capone and many others have done. Martha Stuart can give him advice.
2

YubaruOct. 06, 2011 - 03:39PM JST

Ozawa’s supporters say he has been unfairly targeted by opponents of his drive to weaken the overwhelming influence of bureaucrats in Japanese decision-making and bring politics back to the people.

I wonder what his supporters have been smoking to think this. Maybe they can share!
1

sillygirlOct. 06, 2011 - 04:13PM JST

yes, yes, yes, send him to the earthquake/tsunami zone so he can see just how the people are living and he should be made to stay there and volunteer.
2

BurakuminDesOct. 06, 2011 - 06:28PM JST

This is your worst nightmare, Ozawa-sensei. You are going to end up in the "Big House" this time. If you don't, well we will all know for certain that the legal system in Japan is as crooked as Ozawa.
1

YubaruOct. 06, 2011 - 06:50PM JST

At one time the mistakes of an underling were the failures of the master. If that still holds true today Ozawa should be held to that tradition and commit seppeku on the steps of the Diet in atonement for his failings.

One can only dream!
0

YankeeXOct. 06, 2011 - 07:11PM JST

No, foreign powers do not want this gentleman to lead the country.

At some14some

what the hell are you talking about? Foreigners have no interested in Ozawa's affairs.
1

Elbuda MexicanoOct. 06, 2011 - 07:39PM JST

YankeeX sorry but foreign powers do! CHINA loves this scumbag Ozawa! The Chinese know this snake in the grass would do anything for $$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!
0

SerranoOct. 06, 2011 - 08:16PM JST

Ozawa doesn't need this aggravation.
0

Patric SpohnOct. 06, 2011 - 08:25PM JST

Of course, he pleads not guilty. Didn't expect anything less.
1

CrazyJoeOct. 06, 2011 - 09:13PM JST

Ozawa is the best politician money can buy.
0

hoserfellaOct. 06, 2011 - 09:52PM JST

Anyone want to bet me a beer if found guilty he collapses into a hospital bed for "exhaustion" or "stress" or both?
0

BurakuminDesOct. 06, 2011 - 09:56PM JST

Anyone want to bet me a beer if found guilty he collapses into a hospital bed for "exhaustion" or "stress" or both?

Wouldn't even bet you a happoshu on that - we all know it's gonna happen... IF he is found guilty...
-1

DisillusionedOct. 06, 2011 - 09:59PM JST

we all know it's gonna happen... IF he is found guilty...

Nothing will happen cos he will be cleared of all charges and be in the running for next week's PM of Japan.

He is untouchable!
1

SerranoOct. 06, 2011 - 10:00PM JST

Burakumin - I wouldn't even bet you a 3rd category beer on that one.
0

BurakuminDesOct. 06, 2011 - 10:27PM JST

Burakumin - I wouldn't even bet you a 3rd category beer on that one.

ha ha! Even a pea-beer aint worth betting on Ozawa!
0

SeiharinokazeOct. 06, 2011 - 11:45PM JST

Errr, this is a liberation war against the log-rolling among the great vested interest, that is, bureaucrats, big businesses, pork barrel politicians and of course the U.S. Ozawa advocated it and actually put an end to the 1955 regime. He may then have set about in real earnest to transfer the Futenma air base out of Okinawa and even Japan and reform the public servants system forbidding them such a corrupt practice as parachuting to private companies. He may also stopped tax concessions to big businesses while snatching ten to twenty trillion yen willy-nilly out of the special account or the buried money they keep mainly for their own good in Kasumigaseki 3-chome. Of course he will jib at tax increase and TPP too. Heck, a supreme directive had to be issued anyway to liquidate him without delay.
0

issa1Oct. 06, 2011 - 11:45PM JST

not get tired of me questioning whether this guy is even real Japanese.no, no, no it is not Japanese!!!!!!! this guy is the result of 66 years of democracy ill.
0

whiskeysourOct. 07, 2011 - 12:15AM JST

Call it karma, sorry O man time to get what's coming
0

whiskeysourOct. 07, 2011 - 12:16AM JST

I am very sorry for his aids. Imagine working for this clown.
0

zichiOct. 07, 2011 - 04:58AM JST

Ichiro Ozawa fell ill around 11PM JST on October 6 and was rushed to a private hospital's ICU in Tokyo.
0

hoserfellaOct. 07, 2011 - 07:18AM JST

I think everyone who posted after me owes me a beer. I accept kirin or asahi...
0

Samantha Zoe AsoOct. 07, 2011 - 09:06AM JST

I am surprised the courtroom can fit his ego in. He lives on another plane. Unbelievable.
0

Samantha Zoe AsoOct. 07, 2011 - 09:11AM JST

@horsefella. In any other country, you'd now be inundated with requests from various channels for your own psychic tv show! This kind of behaivour, feigning sickness when the going gets rough, is very reminiscent of children's behaivour when they are faced with something they don't want to face or have to be held accountable for their actions!
0

HikozaemonOct. 07, 2011 - 12:09PM JST

The 400m is his own money. The prosecution has no direct evidence or wrongdoing. The investigation was politically timed and politically motivated to keep him from influence when the DPJ came to power. All valid points.

But hey - go the "stomp on the guys who want to actually change Japan" machine! Looks like you've got Japan Today on your side...

Don't worry, LDP will be back in power soon, Ozawa will be back in opposition where he can't challenge beaurocratic rule, and all this will die down.
0

NetNinjaOct. 08, 2011 - 08:36AM JST

Seriously, I hope they dissect this guy. That hip injury and the doctors on TV was all staged. This guy definitely doesn't want to face the music.
Congratulations HoserFella, you called it perfectly. Can't get you a beer but I'll give you another movie quote. You love them so much.

Ozawa's colleagues are locked up for this crime. The Joker: I wanted to see what you'd do. And you didn't disappoint. Then, you let (your former colleagues) take your place; even to a guy like me, that's cold!

It's time to lock this guy up. Throw him in a cell with Takafumi Horie. Ozawa might drop the soap and then he'll find out how bad that hip injury is after they grab him from behind.
0

Christina O'NeillOct. 09, 2011 - 08:52AM JST

Will his 3 aides be called to give evidence for the prosecution?
0

ScroteOct. 09, 2011 - 10:51AM JST

Hikozaemon: If the Y400 million is Ozawa's own money why didn't he declare it in the annual report of his assets to the Diet? He claimed he only had about Y200 million. At the very least he is guilty of making a false declaration there, but I wonder if that can be punished.

Furthermore, this Y400 million that Ozawa didn't declare as part of his assets: has he paid tax on it? where did it come from? At one point he claimed it was part of an inheritance, which means tax records should exist to verify that claim. He should be able to produce those records. If he is lying he must explain the source of the money. I expect it came from bribes. I do hope he doesn't fall "ill" again before he gets the chance to explain, especially since he has claimed numerous times that he would like to explain everything in court.
0

SeiharinokazeOct. 10, 2011 - 03:46PM JST

Some company says that they gave Ozawa a slush fund amounting to 100 million yen. Prosecutors investigated it thoughrouly for one and half years and could not find any single evidence to prove it except what the bribers says verbally. So they gave up indicting Ozawa for a bribery case. Instead they tried to indict him for being a party to his secretaries' conspiracy of not reporting the land purchase at the time they bought it and postponing it for two months until the land was registered, with a full stretch of their prosecutorial imagination that they did it to conceal the fact that the money they used to buy the land included the slush fund. But it's a rather arbitrary guess isn't it. Heck, it's not rare for a retired white-collar from a large company or a government office to have 100 million in bank deposit or some financial instruments. Ozawa inherited from his father 300 million yen in 1968 which he kept as a deposit in trust, a high-return financial instrument called "BIG" quite popular in 1980's through 90's. He cancelled it in 1998 and got 360 million. All these things are perhaps grasped by prosecutors who investigated Ozawa in depth spending 3000 million yen of our tax money.
0

HikozaemonOct. 11, 2011 - 05:59PM JST

Scrote - I don't know that, he says it's private, but he satisfied police investigators every time they checked the source of the funds, that they weren't from an illicit source. Other than the claims of some "construction companies" (and everyone on this site should know what that is code language for by now), there is no evidence of any sort that any wrongdoing occurred.

The point of all this is to tie up Ozawa in the courts and keep him outside of the DPJ secretariat until next April. Mid next year will be the next election, and Ozawa won't be able to drag MOF beaurocrats into gymnasiums embarrassing them any more, and this matter will be over, until he next looks like getting a party into government when new, similar, unsubstantiated allegations will be made again.

Peace
0

Ben_JackinoffOct. 12, 2011 - 12:12PM JST

"Not guilty!...Oh my back!"