Hatoyama won't resign, but says opinion may sway his fate

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2009/12/26

Yukio Hatoyama apologized to the public for a political fund donation scandal that resulted in indictments of two former aides, but he made clear he has no intention of resigning as prime minister.

Hatoyama said he was "unaware" of what was going on.

But as he himself stated, his fate may well hinge on public opinion, coupled with an investigation by tax authorities of the money flow from his mother and the prospect of a fierce opposition attack during the ordinary Diet session to open in January.

"I would like to offer my deep apology to the people," Hatoyama told a news conference Thursday.

Referring to the difficulties he faces, Hatoyama pledged to keep carrying out his duties. But he said that if calls for his resignation grew overwhelming, he "would have to respect the voices of the people."

It is almost unheard of for a prime minister to link his fate to popular support. He could be in a bind if sagging support rates for his Cabinet continue to fall.

Earlier Thursday, Tokyo prosecutors indicted his former state-paid secretary, Keiji Katsuba, 59, for falsifying political fund reports for Hatoyama's fund-management organization on donations to the tune of 359 million yen from 2004 to 2008, among other charges. He was not arrested.

Katsuba is accused of reporting funds from Hatoyama's mother as individual donations.

Prosecutors also filed a summary indictment against former policy secretary Daisuke Haga, 55, for failing to exercise appropriate oversight in his capacity as accounting chief.

Prosecutors stopped short of charging Hatoyama, however, after determining he himself was not involved in falsification efforts.

Hatoyama stressed at the news conference that he had no grasp of the funds coming from his mother Yasuko, saying he entrusted Katsuba with all his fund management activities.

Announcing he has received 1.26 billion yen from his mother since 2002, Hatoyama said he will file revised tax returns and pay more than 600 million yen in gift taxes.

Hatoyama told the news conference he had never lined his own pockets or made illegal gains through falsified reports, but he failed to explain how the money was spent.

Hatoyama earlier said he himself was "surprised" at how much money came from his mother.

Taxation authorities will now scrutinize the fund flow to determine whether the money amounted to taxable "gifts." There are lingering suspicions that the money constituted political donations funneled to his groups for use in political maneuverings.

In political circles, it is not unusual for family inheritance or gifts to pass as tax-exempt political donations. A case in point is a political group's assets, which are tax-free when passed from a parent to a child when the latter takes over as the group's representative.

Critics accuse Hatoyama of having embraced the questionable methods of the Liberal Democratic Party that he would often roundly criticize. Opposition parties are pushing for his resignation.

"A politician must be punished for a crime committed by an aide," Hatoyama once said. "If a secretary to Yukio Hatoyama had done the same, I would resign as a lawmaker," he said at the time.

Criticizing Hatoyama's remarks on the fund flow as a display of his "arrogance as a man of affluence," LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki called on the prime minister to heed his own words and immediately step down or dissolve the Lower House.

Takeshi Tsuchimoto, a former supreme public prosecutor, was critical of prosecutors who have dropped their investigation of Hatoyama. Tsuchimoto complained that prosecutors did not directly question either the prime minister or his mother after they handed in statements explaining their understanding of the situation.

Tsuchimoto said the case warranted questioning because it involved huge amounts of money and various methods of deception were employed.

Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of political science at Nihon University, said even though the public appeared not to be too fussed because the money was from Hatoyama's mother, rather than businesses, the falsification should be deemed malicious if it was aimed at evading inheritance taxes.

He said it remains unclear why the funds were concealed, rather than reported as loans.(IHT/Asahi: December 26,2009)