猪瀬氏の５０００万 「借用証」でも疑念は消えない

The Yomiuri Shimbun December 1, 2013
Suspicions haunt Tokyo Gov. Inose over borrowing from Tokushukai
猪瀬氏の５０００万　「借用証」でも疑念は消えない（11月30日付・読売社説）

Why did Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose borrow a huge amount of money? Even one week after his first press conference on the scandal, suspicions have not been diminished.
　巨額の借入金の趣旨は何だったのか。最初の釈明記者会見から１週間が過ぎても、疑念は一向に消えない。

Concerning the ¥50 million he received from the Tokushukai medical group, which faced a compulsory investigation over a suspected violation of the election law, Inose stressed in his general policy speech at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Friday that he “borrowed the money for personal use.”
　強制捜査を受けた医療グループ「徳洲会」側から５０００万円を受け取っていた東京都の猪瀬直樹知事が、都議会の所信表明で改めて「個人の借り入れだった」と強調した。

His explanation, which went no further than his earlier explanations, drew boos and jeers from the floor. It was natural that various groups of assembly members expressed anger at his explanations, denouncing them as insufficient.
　これまでの釈明の域を出ない内容に、議場から激しいヤジが飛んだ。各会派が「説明不足だ」と反発したのはもっともだ。

In his press conference Tuesday, he displayed an IOU he wrote when he received the money, which he said he had kept in a safe-deposit box.
　猪瀬氏は２６日の記者会見で、現金授受の際に記入したとする「借用証」を公開した。貸金庫に保管していたという。

The IOU contained only the lender’s name, House of Representatives member Tsuyoshi Tokuda; the date; the amount of money and the governor’s name. There was no mention of a repayment date or an interest rate.
　貸し手の徳田毅衆院議員の名前と日付が印字されているほかは、金額と知事の署名があるだけだ。返済時期や利子の記載もない。

Even if the IOU is authentic, it is not enough to prove that the money “was not for election campaigning” as claimed by Inose.
　これが本物であるとしても、借用証だけでは、「選挙運動のためではない」という猪瀬氏の主張が証明されたとは言えまい。

Inose dined with Tokuda six days before he received the money on Nov. 29 last year, before the campaign for a Tokyo gubernatorial election kicked off. During the meeting, there was reportedly talk to the effect that elections are costly. Inose revealed in the news conference that Tokuda proposed lending him money, quoting him as saying, “If you can’t prepare enough money, I’m ready to lend you some.”
　猪瀬氏は現金受領の６日前に徳田議員と会食し、その際、選挙には金がかかることが話題に上ったという。徳田議員が「お金がないなら、いつでも貸します」と語ったことも、猪瀬氏は記者会見で明らかにしている。

Money for electioneering?

Taking this conversation into consideration, it would be natural to assume the cash was provided for financing Inose’s election campaign.
　このやり取りを踏まえれば、選挙のために現金が提供されたと考えるのが自然だろう。

The Public Offices Election Law makes it mandatory for a candidate’s campaign funds manager to record revenues and expenses in election campaign financial reports. Writing financial records, if done without awareness of falsehood, does not constitute an illegal act.
　公職選挙法は、選挙運動に関する収入と支出を選挙運動費用収支報告書に記載するよう、候補者の出納責任者に義務づけている。出納責任者に虚偽記載の認識がなければ、違法行為にはならない。

There was no mention of the ¥50 million in Inose’s campaign financial report. He stressed he had not told his funds manager that he had received the money, probably out of consideration of the law’s stipulation.
　猪瀬氏の報告書に５０００万円の記載はなかった。猪瀬氏が出納責任者に現金受領を伝えていなかったと強調するのは、公選法の規定を意識してのことだろう。

Inose needs to give sufficient explanations to dispel suspicions still surrounding him.
　疑念は払拭されていない。猪瀬氏は説明を尽くす必要がある。

He said he “didn’t know” the Tokushukai group operated a hospital and a nursing care and health facility in Tokyo when he received the controversial money.
　知事は現金受領の際、徳洲会グループの病院と介護老人保健施設が都内にあることを「知らなかった」とも述べている。

The group received about ¥850 million in subsidies from the metropolitan government over the past five years. Having served as a vice governor of Tokyo since 2007 to 2012, Inose cannot escape the charge of dereliction of duty.
　グループには、過去５年間に都から約８億５０００万円の補助金などが出ている。２００７年から副知事の要職にあった人物として無責任のそしりは免れまい。

General employees of the metropolitan government face punishment if they borrow money from outsiders related to their duties. Naturally, a stricter code of conduct is necessary for a governor and a vice governor, whose authority extends over all metropolitan administrative matters.
　都の一般職員が、職務上の利害関係がある業者から借金をすれば、懲戒処分の対象になる。都政全般に職務権限が及ぶ知事や副知事が、一般職員以上に襟を正さねばならないのは当然である。

Next week, the metropolitan assembly is scheduled to hold question-and-answer sessions involving representatives and rank-and-file members from various groups of assembly members. The groups must play a major role in digging into the facts of the scandal.
　都議会では来週、代表質問と一般質問が予定される。真相究明に向け、各会派の役割も重い。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 30, 2013)
（2013年11月30日01時43分  読売新聞）