OSAKA -- Shingo Nishimura, the ultraconservative Diet member arrested last year for allowing a nonlawyer employee to illegally represent clients in his name, formally owned up to the charges as his Osaka District Court trial opened Thursday.
Nishimura, a former Democratic Party of Japan member and lawyer, was charged in December with allowing Koji Suzuki, 52, a former employee, to practice law without a license. Suzuki worked for Nishimura between 1995 and 2000, when he was fired, Nishimura claimed, after it was learned he did not have a law license.
"My law office hired Koji Suzuki, but I was busy with my work in the Diet and was not able to supervise and observe him, which led to his breaking the Attorney's Law. I deeply apologize for this," Nishimura told the court in his opening statement.