The Yomiuri Shimbun
YOKOHAMA--Part of salaries given to three state-paid secretaries for Tetsundo Iwakuni, a Democratic Party of Japan member of the House of Representatives, were used to pay salaries of other members of his staff, a former private secretary to the lawmaker said.
At a press conference at the Kanagawa prefectural government office last week, Yuji Hironaka, 28, said that a portion of the salaries for Iwakuni's state-paid secretaries had been used to pay the salaries of other staff, adding that his state-paid secretaries had been forced to "donate" part of their salaries to the legislator.
Hironaka had served as Iwakuni's private secretary from June to December.
Iwakuni had previously said he was retiring from politics after serving out his current term.
Regarding a 2007 annual income and expenditure report that included a 1.2 million yen contribution to Iwakuni from his chief public secretary, Hironaka said, "I heard [Iwakuni's chief public secretary] say, 'I was reluctant [to donate money to Iwakuni] but I had to, because [I felt pressured to do so].'"
"I believe the law on salaries paid to the secretaries of Diet members, which forbids the inducement of contributions from government-paid secretaries, was breached," Hironaka added.
In December, DPJ headquarters received a complaint from Iwakuni's secretaries about his failure to pay them bonuses.
"The salaries of the three government-paid secretaries were diverted and used to pay the salaries of seven staff including three additional staff members," Hironaka said.
When Hironaka and other private secretaries requested payment, Iwakuni reportedly told another of his public secretaries that such secretaries were just a formality and there was no need to pay them their full salaries.
Hironaka and another public secretary resigned in late December.
When questioned about the allegation, Iwakuni denied the allegations, saying they had been the result of a misunderstanding.
(Feb. 1, 2009)
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