Photo/Illutration Tsuyoshi Tanoue, a lawyer for a former Hiroshima municipal assembly member, speaks at a news conference on July 21. (Jun Ueda)

HIROSHIMA--A lawyer here accused Tokyo prosecutors of using questionable tactics to get his client to testify that money received from a disgraced former lawmaker was a bribe.

Tsuyoshi Tanoue represents a former Hiroshima municipal assembly member about to go on trial for accepting a bribe from Katsuyuki Kawai, who served for just six weeks as justice minister in 2019 when Shinzo Abe was prime minister.

Kawai, 60, has already been found guilty of distributing bribes in exchange for votes for his wife, Anri, when she ran in the 2019 Upper House election. Both Kawais have resigned their seats.

Tanoue revealed that he has an audio recording of the voluntary questioning of his client in the presence of a member of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigative unit.

The prosecutor indicated that the ex-municipal assembly member would not be indicted if he agreed to testify that the money received from Katsuyuki Kawai was a bribe.

According to Tanoue, his client was questioned by prosecutors on nine occasions between March and June 2020. The audio tapes cover seven hours of questioning. At that time, the client was still a Hiroshima municipal assembly member.

The member initially admitted to receiving a “gift” from Kawai, but did not equate the money as a bribe in exchange for votes.

A prosecutor can be heard saying that not recognizing receiving the money was the same as denying the allegation. The prosecutor then played the good cop, bad cop routine by saying he hoped the individual continued as an assembly member.

The member eventually signed his name to a document in which he admitted to receiving a bribe.

When he later explained to prosecutors that he was in such a rush when he received the money that he did not consider it a bribe, prosecutors told him that if he admitted fully to the allegations he might not even be indicted or would be let off with a lesser charge. That led to the document remaining unrevised.

Tanoue asserted that prosecutors took advantage of his client’s desire to remain an assembly member as a guilty ruling, once finalized, would force him to relinquish his seat.

Tanoue said the audio recording was a means to protect his client in the event prosecutors did not allow the client to change his testimony on grounds it was not rooted in fact.

Kawai was charged with bribing 100 local assembly members and other politicians in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Prosecutors initially did not indict a single individual who received the money from Kawai, but a prosecution inquest panel insisted that 35 individuals face indictments.

Twenty-five of them were handed summary court orders, but three, including Tanoue’s client, rejected the summary order and asked for an ordinary court trial.

The first session for Tanoue’s client is scheduled for July 27. Prosecutors initially planned to submit the client’s “confession” as evidence in the trial, but have since withdrawn it after they were informed of the existence of the audio recording which questions the reliability of the confession.

Others who received money from Kawai and have already been tried said they were also told by prosecutors that they could probably escape indictment in exchange for their cooperation.

(This article was written by Issei Yamamoto and Haruka Ono.)

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