英字新聞

Yomiuri Shimbun (Dec. 25, 2009)
Scandal responsibility lies with Hatoyama
元秘書２人起訴　鳩山首相の政治責任は重大だ（12月25日付・読売社説）

Prosecutors have decided not to indict Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama over falsified reports on his political funds. However, the prime minister bears a heavy political responsibility for, in effect, allowing his former secretary to continue illegal accounting practices for years. The prime minister also deceived the public as he did his best to avoid telling the truth on the murky matter.
　元秘書の不正行為を放置したうえ、国民に真実を語ろうとしなかった。鳩山首相は不起訴だったとはいえ、政治的責任は極めて重大である。

Prosecutors on Thursday indicted Hatoyama's former state-funded first secretary without arrest for alleged violations of the Political Funds Control Law. The secretary, who was in charge of the administrative affairs of Hatoyama's political fund management organization, allegedly falsified official fund reports of Hatoyama's political fund organizations. The prosecutors also filed a summary indictment against another state-paid former secretary for policy affairs to Hatoyama, who served as the accountant for the fund organization, ordering him to pay a fine.
　首相の資金管理団体などの収支報告書に虚偽を記載したとして、実務担当者だった元公設第１秘書が、政治資金規正法違反で在宅起訴された。会計責任者だった元政策秘書も略式起訴され、罰金の略式命令を受けた。

The prosecutors concluded the former first secretary disguised funds extended by Hatoyama and his mother as income from individuals' donations and sales of tickets for fund-raising parties. The former policy affairs secretary was charged with gross negligence for failing to notice the falsifications by leaving the accounting work up to the first secretary.
　元公設秘書は、首相や母親からの資金などを個人献金やパーティー収入に偽装した。元政策秘書は元公設秘書に任せ、注意を怠る重大な過失があったという。

　◆「知らぬ」は通用しない◆
It is extremely unusual for former aides to a prime minister to be indicted while the premier is still in office. But the amount of funds falsely entered in the reports totaled about 400 million yen over five years. The scale of the deception means that laying criminal charges in this case was an easy call to make.
　現職首相の元秘書の訴追は異例だが、虚偽記入の総額は５年間で約４億円にも上っており、刑事責任が問われるのは当然だ。

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Prime minister standing firm

Hatoyama has deflected calls to step down over the messy affair. "It's my responsibility to fulfill my mission as a politician," he said at a press conference following the indictments.
　鳩山首相は記者会見で、「政治家としての使命を果たすことが、私の責任だ」と述べ、自らの辞任を否定した。

While Hatoyama was a member of the opposition camp, however, he was quick to make comments that seem to contradict his position in this case. "The responsibility lies with a politician if his or her secretary committed a crime." "If I were the person involved, I'd take off my Diet member pin." Hatoyama took these potshots on such occasions as the arrest of a secretary to former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato and that of a secretary to Muneo Suzuki, a House of Representatives lawmaker.
　だが、首相は野党時代、加藤紘一自民党元幹事長や鈴木宗男衆院議員の秘書らが逮捕された際、何度もこう明言していた。
　「秘書の犯罪は議員の責任だ」「私なら議員バッジを外す」

But now the shoe is on the other foot and Hatoyama must face up squarely to the situation he finds himself in. Where once Hatoyama was calling on others to resign, now he finds himself the target of such demands.
　この言葉が今、自身の進退に向けられていることを、厳粛に受け止める必要がある。

Hatoyama insisted at the press conference that he was "totally unaware" of the massive amount of funds originating from his mother. Even if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his explanation leaves us shaking our heads.
　首相は記者会見で、母親からの巨額の資金提供について「全く承知していなかった」と改めて強調した。首相がいかに裕福な家庭環境で育ったとしても、この説明は信じがたい。

Even if Hatoyama did not know about the funds dispensed from his mother up until June, when disguised donations filed in the names of dead people came to light, he later had the first secretary make a report on the matter and let a lawyer look into the case. It is inconceivable that Hatoyama did not notice the about 1.2 billion yen in funds from his mother.
　仮に「故人献金」問題が発覚した６月までは知らなかったとしても、その後、元公設秘書から事情を聞き、弁護士に調査までさせている。計１２億円超の資金提供に気づかないことはあり得ない。

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Questions unanswered

The revelations came out just as the lower house election was approaching. If Hatoyama hid the funds from his mother in an attempt to save his own neck and avoid any negative fallout that could impact on his party's election chances, this would be an act of betrayal against the public.
　当時は、衆院選が迫っていた。自らの保身と、選挙への悪影響を避けるため、母親からの資金提供を隠していたのなら、国民に対する背信行為である。

Why did the first secretary make false entries in fund reports? For what purposes were the mother's funds used? Was the provision of funds from his mother a way to dodge paying inheritance tax?
　元公設秘書はなぜ虚偽記載を行ったのか。母親の資金をどんな活動に使ったのか。資金提供は相続税対策だったのではないか。

Hatoyama has provided scant explanations to these questions. The prime minister must explain in detail about the series of fund-management irregularities. Without doing so, he will never be able to regain public trust.
　こうした多くの疑問に対して、首相の記者会見での説明は極めて不十分だった。首相は改めて機会を設け、一連の問題の全体像を自ら丁寧に説明すべきだ。それなくして国民の信頼は回復しない。