Japan Parliament Asked to OK Bribery Arrest of Member

TOKYO — Acting on prosecutors’ request, the Tokyo District Court asked Parliament on Tuesday to approve the arrest of a former construction minister and Liberal Democratic Party member on bribery charges.

This was another blow to the corruption-riddled former ruling party and represented the first move against a member of Parliament since prosecutors started arresting mayors, governors and construction company executives last June. More than 30 people have been indicted on charges of bribery and bid-rigging.

The action also cast suspicion on the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, which the United States repeatedly has urged to act against collusion that keeps U.S. companies from winning a fair share of Japan’s construction market.

Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa’s Cabinet immediately approved the court request and sent it to the lower house, which is expected to approve the matter in a few days. Parliament members cannot be arrested without the legislature’s permission while a session is in progress.

Kishiro Nakamura, 44, was charged with accepting a bribe of 10 million yen ($95,238) from Shinji Kiyoyama, a vice president of construction giant Kajima Corp., in January, 1992. In return, he allegedly was to persuade the Fair Trade Commission not to file criminal charges of collusion against 66 construction companies in Saitama prefecture. Four months later, the agency announced it would not file the charges and issued only an administrative warning.

Kajima executives headed a “Saturday Assn.,” through which 66 construction firms allegedly colluded to distribute Saitama contracts for public works projects worth 82 billion yen ($781 million).

Prosecutors on Tuesday rearrested Kiyoyama, who is now on trial on a charge of bribing an Ibaraki prefectural governor to win a construction contract.

Nakamura was accused of repeatedly asking the commission chairman not to bring criminal charges against Saitama firms. Agency officials denied that Nakamura’s entreaties influenced their decision and claimed they were unable to gather sufficient evidence in a year of investigations.

But the Asahi newspaper reported Tuesday that the agency may have agreed to go easy on Saitama companies in exchange for Nakamura’s support for an increase in fines against anti-monopoly law violators; the United States was demanding the increased fines at the time.

Nakamura, deputy chairman of the then-ruling party’s committee in charge of the Fair Trade Commission’s affairs, initially opposed the U.S. demand. But he switched and supported it after the agency announced its Saitama decision. Ultimately, the commission raised the limit on anti-monopoly fines by 20 times--to 100 million yen ($952,380).

Under the 38 years of Liberal Democrat rule that ended last August, bills approved in a party committee inevitably became law by virtue of the party’s majority in Parliament.

Nakamura, who served as construction minister from December, 1992, to August, 1993, has denied that Kajima asked him to intervene with the Fair Trade Commission but has acknowledged that he received political contributions from the firm.

Shin Kanemaru, 79, a former Liberal Democrat kingpin and construction industry “fixer” now standing trial on charges of tax evasion, reportedly entrusted Nakamura with handling the Saitama case. Kanemaru’s arrest in March, 1993, spurred the construction industry probe.

Earlier, press reports speculated that charges might be filed against as many as six Parliament members. Yohei Kono, the Liberal Democrats’ president, described the action against a member of his party as “extremely regrettable.” But he said his party will not judge the case on “partisan interests.”