When an extraordinary session of the Diet opens in October, the issue of money in politics will be reignited. The Liberal Democratic Party, now in opposition, will surely assail Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa over dubious political donations.
Some donors listed in Mr. Hatoyama's political funds reports were found to have died by the time they supposedly made the donations. Mr. Ozawa's chief secretary has been indicted and will soon stand trial on a charge related to how donations were channeled from Nishimatsu Construction Co. to Mr. Ozawa's political funds management organization.
Under a 1970 Supreme Court ruling, companies can make donations to political parties unless it runs counter to the public good. The DPJ now proposes a ban on companies, labor unions and other organizations making political donations or purchasing tickets to fund-raising parties. Under the DPJ proposal, the ban would come into effect in three years.
The LDP and Komeito's counterproposal would allow for donations by companies and other bodies, but impose professional sanctions on politicians if their accounting staff were to violate the Political Funds Control Law, such as by submitting false donations reports. The LDP has received a large amount in donations from Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), and has benefited from donations from individual companies. Some DPJ politicians also currently receive donations from individual firms, but the DPJ is expected to strive to create a system in which politicians and political parties finance their activities with donations from individual citizens and public subsidies.
The Political Funds Control Law has been revised many times. Since 2000, company donations to individual politicians' funds management organizations has been banned. But, as the cases mentioned above have made apparent, there are loopholes. Both Mr. Hatoyama and Mr. Ozawa should give full explanations about the donations in question, and both the ruling and opposition camps should work to revise the law to ensure the sources of political donations are fully transparent.
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