ニュース 2009/03/12 Kan: doubts still remain as to why Ozawa secretary should be arrested at this time On March 12, DPJ Acting President Naoto Kan commented on the arrest of President Ozawa’s publicly-funded secretary in relation to the issue of political donations alleged to have been made by Nishimatsu Construction. He said that although one week had passed since the arrest, “Doubts still remain as to why the arrest should have taken place at such a time,” and added that nothing had occurred to erase those doubts during that time. Kan went on to refer to comments made in an opinion piece by American political scientist Gerald Curtis in that morning’s edition of the Daily Asahi, that “the prosecutors’ office has accountability obligations”. He explained Professor Curtis pointed out in the article that “a person in a position of authority at the public prosecutor’s office should take responsibility for explaining to the public at the appropriate time” why forcible investigations were taking place into what could be described as a so-called “procedural crime” at a time when the likelihood of a change of government at the next general election and of President Ozawa becoming the next Prime Minister of Japan were increasing. Kan said “I totally share these sentiments…Since the public prosecutors have exercised their powers at a time when we are about to select the government through an election, in a way that will have an enormous effort on this situation, it is necessary for them, as an administrative body under the sovereignty of the people, to clearly explain to the public at the appropriate time. This reaffirms my belief that this is the case.” Furthermore, in relation to this incident, Kan revealed that the DPJ had long called in their manifesto for a total ban on political donations from corporations bidding for public works projects and stressed that it was important to achieve bipartisan cooperation to bring this into law, particularly since this would answer the voices of the electorate, who are exclaiming “What on earth is going on?” He also suggested that it would be a good idea to consider introducing measures such as tax breaks to make it easier for political donations to be made by individuals in Japan.