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Monday May 28, 5:33 PMREFILING: LEAD: Farm Minister Matsuoka was under fire for political fund scandals(Kyodo) _ (EDS: FIXING 7TH GRAF)Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who committed suicide Monday afternoon, had been under fire for various political fund scandals. In March, the funds management body of the 62-year-old House of Representatives member from Kumamoto Prefecture was found to have booked more than 20 million yen for five years until 2005 as utility costs although the room the body used in a parliamentary building as its office was cost-free. When questioned by opposition lawmakers during Diet committee deliberations, Matsuoka said the funds were booked appropriately under law and attributed the huge utility charge to "special water" he was buying, which he said cost 5,000 yen for a 500-milliliter bottle, a remark that sparked public controversy. In the most recent case, his fund management and other related bodies were found to have gained a total of 13 million yen in donations over three years through 2005 from 14 Kumamoto-based contractors that have been awarded public works orders from Japan Green Resources Agency, a farm ministry-affiliated forestry management entity involved in bid rigging scandal. Part of the fund management bodies were also believed to have received about 8.5 million yen in donations over 10 years through 2005 from parties such as contractors that have seen some of their officials arrested for alleged involvement in another bid-rigging case over forestry road construction projects. Last Thursday, two senior executives of J-Green were arrested over the series of bid-rigging cases. Matsuoka commented on the matter that day, terming it "extremely regrettable as it is not only a case of bid-rigging involving public works but also one initiated by the public sector in which a public entity placing orders was deeply involved." Among other scandals, Matsuoka's secretary was found to have had the World Business Expert Forum purchase 1 million yen worth of party fundraising tickets, but the money was not reported in Matsuoka's political funds reports. The forum is a fund management body associated with FAC Co., a Fukuoka-based asset management firm that was searched by prosecutors on suspicion of investment law violations in October. In an alleged bribery scandal involving lower house member Muneo Suzuki, Matsuoka had also been questioned by the Tokyo Public District Prosecutors Office on suspicion of accepting 2 million yen in funds from a timber company based in Hokkaido along with Suzuki who is now standing trial in the case. Matsuoka became a Cabinet member for the first time as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister in September, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office. |
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