Lawyers prosecuting Ichiro Ozawa on Friday demanded he be jailed for three years in a political funding scandal trial he has denounced as a plot to sideline him.
Prosecutors said jail time was the only appropriate sentence for Ozawa, the head of the largest faction in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and often seen as the power behind the premiership.
Ozawa is accused of conspiring with former aides to not report 400 million yen of his own money that he lent to a political funding body in 2004 to facilitate a land deal.
Ozawa's aides have said the mistake was purely technical and their boss had not been aware of it.
But in their closing arguments, prosecutors Friday told a Tokyo court it was "unthinkable" that Ozawa was not in the loop.
Defense lawyers for the 69-year-old politician, who has pleaded not guilty, are due to deliver their closing arguments on March 19.
A court decision on Ozawa, who helped the DPJ to power with an electoral landslide in 2009, is expected around April 26.
Ozawa told the court last October the prosecution was "an abuse of state power."
"I can only speculate that the purpose was to terminate me politically and socially," he said.
© AFP
26 Comments
Login to comment
supermonk7
If this guy does any time at all I'll eat my hat.
some14some
let me add : "Prosecutors seek....suspended for five years."
borscht
Seeing as how the judges threw out the most damaging evidence as 'irrelevant', I'm pretty sure Ozawa will spend 0 days in jail before he becomes prime minister du jour.
sillygirl
the man is a cockroach
Mirai Hayashi
Get him! GET HIM!!!!
Bartholomew Harte
The jury's not in so where do they get off ?This humble public servent hasn't been convicted ,Has He???
CrazyJoe
Ozawa will never go to prison.
Yubaru
I wonder how much the prosecutors were paid to screw up the case that Ozawa gets off?
nath
Jail time would help his health. His BMI is way too high.
cwhite
please please, I'll pray if that helps
sillygirl
what`s with the thumbs down. does anyone really think this miserable excuse for a human is good for Japan? i think my favorite line of his was the it was normal to have 400 million yen lying around the house.
mikeinjapan
Guaranteed he wil NOT go to prison! Why, because he's one of the corrupt politicians who takes our tax money and stuffs himself in Sushi bars, and pays off the police and other officials!! Fact!! We call him Fat Twat, its his Chinese name..
tokyokawasaki
snakes are slimy so I am sure he will slip away from any sentence.
palanteboricua
Three years........!!??!! I most definitely smell "bribe" here!! As @some14some states....suspended sentence!! We ought to exercise our legal right to demand our earn tax money be used to sentence Ozawa without bail or suspension!
Yubaru
sillygirl tricks are for kids! Seriously look at the thumbs down as a compliment, at least you know people are responding to your post and actually reading them.
Whatever you may think about Ozawa, there are plenty of folks that think he is the next best thing to (_____) insert your favorite whatever.
Like a famous person once said, and this fits for Ozawa I do believe, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time"
WilliB
Is anybody taking bets about oyabun actually going to jail?
Hikozaemon
No evidence, no wrongdoing, no prison. It's amazing that after the only evidence they had proved to be false that the prosecutors are still pursuing this political witchunt.
The DPJ is already finished and Ozawa has been sidelined long enough to ensure the DPJ leaves power with a yes man in charge. The purpose of the trial has already been served.
I hope Ozawa gets another shot at shaking things up again sometime in the future.
Seiharinokaze
How much does it normally take for anyone to get 100 new candidates into the Diet who would oppose the old rule/agenda of Kasumigaseki? It seems very costly.
Hikozaemon
Of course - heaven forbid there might be some people in Japan who actually want to fix the country...
Yubaru
Sure there are but Ozawa is one of them. If he was truly interested in fixing the country he should start by putting his money where his mouth is and coming clean. Quit the backroom politiking and be up front.
People just might like him more for his honesty rather than the pompous ass that he currently is.
Yubaru
edited...isnt!
Hikozaemon
Ozawa understands how to survive and get things done in Japan - what he wants is a political revolution - a virtual coup. I support him precisely because he knows how to effect change within the system
Yubaru
Then don't be surprised when you end up on some bread line somewhere because Ozawa and his cronies have turned Japan into a dictatorship.
Hikozaemon
Yubaru - Ozawa and his cronies are trying to do precisely the opposite - shift policy making from unelected beaurocrats to elected officials.
You may not have noticed but Japan is already a dictatorship in that respect.
Serrano
"3-year jail term for Ozawa"
Ha ha ha ha!
Peter St. Christopher Kelly
This guy is protected by the yakuza, who truly run Japan.