Japan PM in damage control after arrest, Iraq vote
TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's two-month-old government was in damage control Wednesday as the former top defence bureaucrat was arrested in a bribery scandal and a resurgent opposition voted to end an air mission in Iraq.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who took over in late September to rescue his party from crisis, quickly attempted to set the agenda in the wake of the scandal, pledging to launch a drive to shake up the troubled defence ministry.
Prosecutors on Wednesday arrested former senior vice minister Takemasa Moriya, his wife Sachiko and a former defence contractor in a scandal in which the finance minister has been implicated.
Moriya, 63, whose clout won him the nickname "emperor of the defence ministry" before he retired in August, has publicly admitted accepting fine dining, gifts and hundreds of golf rounds paid by the defence equipment trader, Yamada Corp.
He has denied offering anything in return.
But prosecutors in a statement alleged Moriya and his wife knew they were "entertained as rewards for the favours they had extended in Yamada Corp.'s supply of equipment and other items to the Self-Defence Forces," officially pacifist Japan's military.
Kyodo News said investigators believe Moriya gave preferential treatment to two Japanese companies in military deals, including one involving the purchase of aircraft engines from the giant US conglomerate General Electric.
Fukuda, whose Liberal Democratic Party has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955, said that a panel would draft ways to reform the defence ministry.
"It is extremely deplorable as this has led the public to lose its trust in Japan's national defence. We must go ahead with reform of the defence ministry," Fukuda told reporters.
He voiced hope that the scandal would not affect debate in parliament on resuming Japan's naval mission backing the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
"It may not be easy but this should be treated separately as an issue in the debate," Fukuda said.
Fukuda, a 71-year-old political veteran, took office after his predecessor Shinzo Abe abruptly quit in September in the wake of an election that gave control of parliament's upper house to the opposition for the first time.
Abe said he was resigning in part because of the opposition's refusal to extend the naval mission providing fuel and other support on the Indian Ocean for coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The mission ended on November 1 after legislation expired, with the opposition refusing to back Japanese participation in "American wars."
The opposition took up the debate on the bill Wednesday but first passed a motion seeking to end a separate Kuwait-based air mission under which Japan flies goods and personnel into Iraq.
The measure is largely symbolic as it is expected to be soundly rejected by the lower house, where Fukuda's coalition enjoys a comfortable majority.
The opposition has said its first priority, before considering the Afghan mission, is to probe the mushrooming scandal over defence contracts.
"We want law enforcement to bring to light the complete picture," said Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan.
"In particular, we want to know if there have been approaches to politicians for favours," Hatoyama said.
The upper house has summoned Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, who was formerly defence chief, to testify on the scandal next week.
Nukaga has denied any wrongdoing but admitted playing golf with the contractor, Motonobu Miyazaki, who was arrested earlier this month on separate charges of embezzlement. Miyazaki was arrested again Wednesday in the bribery case.
