Mr. Suzuki's arrest

鈴木議員、あっせん収賄で逮捕

Diet members normally enjoy immunity from arrest while the Diet is in session. But, in an unusually fast move Tuesday and Wednesday, responding to a request from Tokyo prosecutors, the government sought Diet permission to have Mr. Suzuki arrested on bribery charges, and the Lower House acted promptly to approve his arrest.

In recent months, Mr. Suzuki has been linked to other corruption scandals involving his aide and others, but there has been little evidence to support allegations of his direct involvement. For instance, he allegedly played a role in a government-funded construction project on Kunashiri Island, a part of the disputed Northern Territories. Those directly involved, including his aide, have been arrested, but no charges have been brought against Mr. Suzuki himself.

This time around, however, prosecutors singled him out for criminal prosecution, evidently determined to bring a lawbreaking legislator to trial. Mr. Suzuki, they say, received the cash from the company, Yamarin, soon after it was barred from bidding on contracts because of illegal logging in state-owned forests. Their judgment, based on evidence obtained from company officials, is that the money was a bribe, not a donation. Yamarin is a longtime supporter of the former Liberal Democratic Party legislator in his Hokkaido constituency.

Criminality in previous corruption scandals involving Diet members hinged on whether the money they had received was a bribe or not. Those indicted tried to escape conviction by denying the illegality of the cash they had been given. Mr. Suzuki reportedly also insisted that the payment from Yamarin was a donation, not a bribe.

Reports, though, say he regularly received donations from the company. It is hard to believe his claim that the money in question was a bona fide contribution. Considering the close ties that existed between him and Yamarin, it is very likely that he used his political influence to pressure the Forestry Agency to help a key corporate supporter in his district.

Mr. Suzuki allegedly returned most of the money — ¥4 million — to the company after it was searched by investigators for evidence of unauthorized logging. He is also said to have requested agency officials to "do something" for the firm after its bidding ban was lifted. This alone seems to leave little doubt that he had taken a bribe.

Mr. Suzuki is the 19th Diet member to be denied constitutional immunity from arrest since the end of World War II. The last time an arrest warrant was sought during a Diet session was in 1998, when the late Mr. Shokei Arai of the Liberal Democratic Party committed suicide just before a Lower House plenary vote on the request to permit his arrest. That public prosecutors sought to arrest Mr. Suzuki while the legislature is in session suggests strongly that they are confident about their ability to build a case against him.

The government, meanwhile, should reflect on the allegations that Mr. Suzuki received the money in his office at the prime minister's official residence. This indicates that bribery took place at the command center of the government and that the corrupt ties that bind politics and money run deep.

The Diet, for its part, met public expectations by acting quickly to give a green light to the arrest of Mr. Suzuki. But it must be pointed out that the Diet has yet to vote on a resolution calling for Mr. Suzuki's resignation from the Diet. Indeed, the Diet track record on its handling of scandals involving members falls short of meeting political ethical standards.

The fact remains that the Diet has failed yet again to unravel a scandal involving a member, in spite of the fact that it has the authority to conduct its own investigations. That is part of the reason why Mr. Suzuki has been able to keep his seat for so long despite numerous allegations about his wrongdoing.

Now that public prosecutors have arrested him on criminal charges, the question of whether the charges are justified should be left to a court of law. Mr. Suzuki's arrest, however sad, is a necessary step toward cleaning up money-tainted politics and meeting public expectations for political integrity. Diet members must now explain to the public why they have put measures to strengthen political ethics on the back burner.

The Japan Times: June 20, 2002
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      国会議員には国会会期中の不逮捕特権があるが、東京地検の要請に応えて衆院本会議で鈴木議員の逮捕許諾が議決された。鈴木氏には国後島の建設事業での汚職疑惑もあり、秘書らが逮捕されたが、氏の直接の関与を示す証拠は不十分だった。

      しかし今回の件について東京地検は、やまりんが国有林での盗伐で入札参加停止になった直後に鈴木氏が同社から現金を受け取った証拠があり、この現金は献金でなくわいろと判断している。刑事責任を問われるかどうかを握る鍵はここにあるが、鈴木氏は、やまりんから受け取った現金は政治献金だと主張している。しかし地元の有力な支援企業であるやまりんと氏の親密な関係からして、氏がその影響力を使って林野庁に圧力をかけ、やまりんに有利になるよう働きかけた可能性は高い。

      地検がやまりんの盗伐について強制捜査を行った後、鈴木氏は受け取った現金の大半を返却したという。また、やまりんの入札参加停止の解除後、林野庁幹部に、同社のために何とかしてやるよう依頼したといわれる。

      一方政府は、鈴木氏が政治の中心である首相官邸で現金を受け取った疑いがあることをよく考えるべきだ。これは政治とカネの汚れた関係が根深い問題であることを示している。

      国会は鈴木氏の逮捕を迅速に許諾し、氏の議員辞職勧告決議案を可決したことで、国民の期待に応えたが、国政調査権を駆使しての国会議員に対する汚職疑惑の解明努力は十分だったとは言えない。

      鈴木氏の逮捕は、金権政治を浄化し、政治倫理に関する国民の期待に応えるために必要な一歩だ。国会議員は今、政治倫理を強化する対策を後回しにした理由を国民に説明しなくてはならないだろう。

The Japan Times Weekly
June 29, 2002
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