From: cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)
Subject: Re: Kanemaru's latest stunt
Organization: Integrated International Systems Corp. One Longfellow Place, Suite 3309, Boston, Ma.
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:26:51 GMT

To flesh out the information. (flesh out means to add to or complete)



	TOKYO (UPI) -- Disgraced political strongman Shin Kanemaru told
prosecutors he distributed an illegal $4 million donation among members
of ruling party factions, a major newspaper reported Sunday.
	The Asahi Shimbun said former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Vice
President Kanemaru discussed the flow of money when he was questioned by
prosecutors at a Tokyo hotel earlier this month.
	Opposition parties have demanded that Kanemaru and former Prime
Minister Noboru Takeshita testify as sworn witnesses before Parliament
about their roles in the Tokyo Sagawa Kyubin money-and-mobster scandal.
	With Kanemaru suffering from cataracts and considering
hospitalization, the opposition camp said he will be questioned at his
hospital bed if he is not able to appear before the Diet, Japan's
Parliament.
	Opposition leaders said the hospitalization prospect was an apparent
tactic to avoid testifying.
	Kanemaru was quoted by the newspaper as saying he believed the money
was dispersed among 60 politicians, including members of other LDP
factions as well as his own.
	The 78-year-old former party kingman resigned from Parliament and
gave up his position as chairman of the LDP's most powerful faction last
month to atone for accepting the money from the defunct trucking firm. A
bitter leadership struggle has left the 109-member group on the verge of
breaking up. There are four other factions in the LDP.
	Kanemaru told the prosecutors he did not know the names of those
receiving the funds or how much each received because his secretary
handled the matter, the Asahi said.
	The Social Democratic Party (SDP), the largest opposition group, the
Democratic Socialist Party and Komeito (Clean Government Party) have
said that unless Kanemaru, Takeshita, Kanemaru's secretary Masahisa
Haibara and Hiroyasu Watanabe, former Tokyo Sagawa president, are
summoned, they will not deliberate a multibillion-dollar supplementary
budget to finance the government's economic stimulus package.
	LDP sources said Kanemaru would comply with the opposition demand to
break the deadlock in Diet business. Takeshita has also indicated his
readiness to appear to explain his alleged involvement in the scandal.
	A deposition read at the Tokyo District Court earlier this month said
Kanemaru and six other LDP politicians attempted to silence a group of
far-right extremists involved in a noisy harassment campaign against
Takeshita in 1987 with offers of huge amounts of money. Takeshita was
vying for the LDP presidency and premiership accompanying the post.
	Susumi Ishii, the late leader of Japan's second-largest crime
sindicate, allegedly helped end the harassment campaign.
	Kanemaru, in an apparent move to assuage public opinion over the
scandal, reportedly told prosecutors he would donate $4 million -- the
same amount he received from Tokyo Sagawa Kyubin -- to public
organizations, according to the Kyodo News Service.

Xref: world clari.news.gov.international:47970 clari.news.gov.corrupt:1186 clari.news.politics:10225