All Scandal-Mired Upper House Lawmakers Wish to Face Ethics Panel

   Tokyo, Nov. 28 (Jiji Press)--All 27 House of Councillors lawmakers involved in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's slush funds scandal wish to face a parliamentary ethics panel, it was learned Thursday.
   Keizo Takemi, the LDP's leader in the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, told his counterpart at the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Shunichi Mizuoka, of the 27 members' wishes and sought cooperation to complete hearings for all of them by year-end.
   "We hope this will be an opportunity to fulfill accountability and advance political activities," Masaji Matsuyama, secretary-general of the LDP in the Upper House, told reporters.
   The CDP's Upper House Diet affairs head, Yoshitaka Saito, said the chamber's ethics panel should be used for uncovering the truth about the scandal, not for lawmakers to put the scandal behind them. He hinted at possibly continuing to press the LDP-led ruling bloc on the matter after the turn of the year.
   The 27 lawmakers are among the 32 that the House of Councillors' Deliberative Council on Political Ethics called in March for questioning. Three of them attended hearings at the time, while the others declined to do so.

(2024/11/28-21:24)

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