Ex-Lawmaker Ono Found Partly Not Guilty over Slush Funds Scandal

Tokyo, June 23 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Tuesday found former Japanese lawmaker Yasutada Ono not guilty of part of his alleged failure to report some political funds in a high-profile slush funds scandal involving factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Presiding Judge Yasushi Fuke handed down a fine of 600,000 yen to the former member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, and a fine of 200,000 yen to Ono's former policy secretary, Yoshiko Iwata. Prosecutors had demanded a fine of 1.5 million yen for Ono, 67, and 500,000 yen for Iwata, 62, while the defense side had argued that they were not guilty, saying that the unreported funds were deposits.

A total of 12 people, including four former lawmakers, have been charged in the slush funds scandal. It is the first time that a ruling has been issued in a trial for a former lawmaker over the matter.

Ono was suspected of failing to report some 51 million yen in kickbacks from fundraising party ticket sales revenues in his political funds reports over five years in violation of the political funds control law.

The trial centered on whether the kickbacks from revenues exceeding the ticket sales quota set by the now-defunct LDP faction to which Ono belonged could be considered donations to Ono's fund management organization called "Taishikai."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]