第１検察審議決 小沢氏不起訴にまた疑問符

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jul. 17, 2010)
Prosecutors should keep Ozawa in sights
第１検察審議決　小沢氏不起訴にまた疑問符（7月16日付・読売社説）

A panel for the inquest of prosecution has again pointed out shortcomings in the investigations into former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa over a scandal involving his political funds management organization. Prosecutors must take this situation gravely.
　民主党の小沢前幹事長に対する捜査の不十分さが、検察審査会から改めて指摘された。検察は重く受け止めるべきだ。

Public attention is focused on whether the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution will recommend for the second time that Ozawa should be indicted. The Tokyo No. 1 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution made a separate conclusion Thursday that it was "unjust" for prosecutors not to have indicted Ozawa over the funds body's alleged falsification of its 2007 political funds report.
　東京第５検察審が小沢氏の強制起訴につながる２度目の議決を出すかどうかが注目される中、これとは別に、東京第１検察審が「不起訴不当」の議決をした。

Three of Ozawa's former secretaries, including House of Representatives member Tomohiro Ishikawa, have been indicted on suspicion of making false entries into political funds reports for 2004, 2005 and 2007 to hide a shady transfer of 400 million yen the funds management body, Rikuzan-kai, used for the purchase of a plot of land in Tokyo.
　小沢氏の資金管理団体「陸山会」が都内の土地を購入する際に使った４億円を隠蔽(いんぺい)するため、２００４年、０５年、０７年分の収支報告書に虚偽記入をしたとして、石川知裕衆院議員ら小沢氏の元秘書３人が起訴された。

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Waiting for 2nd conclusion

However, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office decided not to indict Ozawa due to lack of evidence. Because civilians dissatisfied with this decision filed for a review of the case, the No. 5 panel has been reexamining whether the prosecutors' decision was appropriate regarding the false entries for 2004 and 2005, while the No. 1 panel did likewise for the 2007 report.
　しかし検察は、小沢氏については嫌疑不十分で不起訴とした。これを不服とする市民らの申し立てを受け、０４年分と０５年分の虚偽記入については第５検察審、０７年分については第１検察審が処分の妥当性を審査してきた。

The No. 5 committee in late April concluded Ozawa "merits indictment." This panel is now reviewing the case for the second time after the prosecutors office again said it would not indict Ozawa.
If the No. 5 panel again concludes Ozawa should be indicted, the ruling party bigwig will face mandatory indictment.
　第５検察審は４月末、１度目の「起訴相当」の結論を出し、検察の再度の不起訴処分を受けて２度目の審査段階にある。次に「起訴すべき」との議決が出れば、小沢氏は強制起訴される。

A DPJ presidential election is scheduled for September. As such, the timing of the No. 5 panel's second conclusion has become a focus of mounting concern, especially among politicians with a stake in the race and its outcome.
　９月には民主党代表選が予定されており、再議決の時期は政治的にも関心が高まっている。

If prosecutors decide not to indict Ozawa after their investigation despite the No. 1 committee's "unjust" decision, there will be no second review of the case by the panel.
　今回の「不起訴不当」議決に対しては、検察が再捜査で不起訴とすると、２度目の審査はない。

Nevertheless, the panel flatly stated that Ozawa's explanation to the prosecutors--that he left the entry of data into the reports entirely to his secretaries--was "unnatural" and demanded prosecutors conduct a more exhaustive investigation.
　とはいえ、第１検察審は、「秘書に任せていた」という小沢氏の弁明を「不自然である」と言い切り、検察に、これまで以上に徹底した捜査を迫っている。

Regarding false entries in the political funds reports, the panel concluded that confessions by Ishikawa and another former secretary--they claim they told Ozawa they would not enter the 400 million yen transaction into the reports and received Ozawa's approval for the omission--are credible. The panel said they could not escape the belief that the prosecutors' questioning of Ozawa "did not go far enough."
　報告書への不記載について、小沢氏に報告し、了承を得たという石川議員や別の元秘書の供述を信用できるとした上で、小沢氏に対する検察の聴取を「追及不足の印象は免れない」と批判した。

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Unusual demands

The panel also demanded the prosecutors ask Ozawa and the former secretaries to submit pocketbooks and notes in which they recorded their activities and check them against the facts. It is quite unusual for members of the panel, who are chosen from the public, to make such demands on investigation methods to prosecutors.
　元秘書や小沢氏から、行動を記録しているはずの手帳やメモを提出させ、事実関係の裏付けをとるよう求めている。市民から選ばれた審査員が、捜査方法にまで注文を付けるのは異例のことだ。

The panel has implicitly warned the prosecutors not to simply go through the motions by deciding the outcome before even starting their investigation. We urge the prosecutors to leave no stone unturned in their investigation.
　検察が結論ありきの形式的な再捜査をすることに、クギを刺したということだろう。検察は捜査を尽くすべきである。

Ozawa appeared emboldened by the prosecutors' decision not to indict him and has refused to give any explanation about the scandal at the Diet. The possibility that Ozawa might take the stand at the House of Representatives Deliberative Council on Political Ethics has been left up in the air.
　小沢氏は、検察の不起訴処分を自らに有利に解釈し、国会でも一切の説明を拒んできた。衆院政治倫理審査会への出席も、うやむやになってしまった。

The Tokyo No. 1 panel's conclusion was a resounding "no" to Ozawa's refusal to clear up this matter. We again urge Ozawa to fulfill his responsibility to clearly explain to the public his involvement--if any--in the alleged wrongdoing.
　第１検察審の議決は、小沢氏のこうした姿勢にも「ノー」を突きつけたものだ。小沢氏に重ねて求められるのは、国民への説明責任を果たすことである。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 16, 2010)
（2010年7月16日01時17分 読売新聞）