From: clarinews@clarinet.com (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.gov.corrupt,clari.news.politics
Subject: Disgraced pol enters hospital for cataract surgery
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government,
	government corruption, politics
Date: 16 Nov 92 11:27:51 GMT
Location: japan
ACategory: international
Slugword: japan-scandal
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 471; Id: z1600; Sel: xxigf; Adate: 11-16-630aes; Ver: 11/0
Codes: &igfrxx., &iggrjp., &ip.rjp., tncn....


	TOKYO (UPI) -- Disgraced political strongman Shin Kanemaru entered a
hospital Monday night for eye surgery, leaving opposition party leaders
in a quandary over forcing him to testify.
	The 78-year-old former vice president of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) is suffering from cataracts in both eyes,
requiring a possibly lengthy hospitalization in a facility in Kanagawa
Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.
	The opposition camp has been demanding 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.
	Opposition leaders said the hospitalization was an apparent tactic to
avoid testifying.
	``I don't know what on earth is going on,'' said Tomiichi Murayama,
chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP), the largest opposition group. ``The best way left for him is to
testify in the Diet (Japan's Parliament) and enter the hospital.
	The LDP discussed with the opposition a compromise plan to have
members of the House of Representatives Budget Committee question
Kanemaru at his bedside.
	``Kanemaru's eyesight has deteriorated so badly recently,'' his son
Shingo said. ``We don't know when he will have the operation, but to
have operations on both eyes could require a long time before he can
leave the hospital.
	A physician said Kanemaru's condition requires urgent
hospitalization, and it is hoped the surgery will take place Tuesday. 
``He could lose his eyesight without an operation,'' the doctor said.
	Kanemaru resigned from the House of Representatives and gave up his
position as chairman of the LDP's most powerful faction last month to
atone for accepting a dlrs 4 million illegal contribution from Tokyo
Sagawa Kyubin, a now-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 prosecutors he distributed the money among faction
members, The Asahi Shimbun reported Sunday.
	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.
	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 SDP, 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 Sagwa president,
are summoned, they will not deliberate a supplementary budget to finance
the government's economic stimulus package.

-- 
*****************************************************************************
*  Charles Richmond 	Integrated International Systems Corporation        *
*  cmr@world.std.com	(Temporary) cmr@koneko.shr.dec.com		    *
*  Specializing in UNIX, X, Image Processing, and Communications.           *
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan