House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki said Tuesday he has received a copy of the so-called Muneo manual drafted by the Foreign Ministry to instruct its officials on how to deal with the lawmaker who once wielded enormous influence with the ministry.
Responding to his inquiries, the ministry mailed a copy to his office and it arrived Tuesday morning, Suzuki said.
The draft was designated "classified" until last Friday even though its content, including an order not to dine with Suzuki, had been known to the media since late September.
Suzuki said the manual, which carries no date or name of the department in charge, was designed for the ministry to "shun" him, and he wonders why the ministry has been so nervous about him.
He had developed cozy ties with senior ministry officials, but they later turned their back on him. Suzuki left the Liberal Democratic Party in March 2002 amid allegations of bribery and was arrested that June on a charge of accepting bribes.
"The Foreign Ministry explained that it removed the classified designation on Oct. 28 'after serious consideration,' but to put it the other way around, this document was still classified on Sept. 29 when it became a news story," Suzuki told an impromptu news conference at the Diet.
"This is a good opportunity to question the Foreign Ministry's understanding about keeping a secret," Suzuki said. On Oct. 7, Kojiro Shiojiri, the director of the Minister's Secretariat, had replied in writing to Suzuki that the document in question was to be used internally and therefore was never to be made public.
In a letter dated Monday attached to the manual, Shiojiri informed Suzuki the document had been designated as classified but the ministry had recently removed the designation.