Ozawa aides found guilty

A Tokyo court has found 3 former aides of one-time Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa guilty in connection with a political funding scandal.

The 3 defendants, including Lower House member Tomohiro Ishikawa, were indicted for falsifying accounting reports for Ozawa's fund-management body in a 5.2-million-dollar land purchase.

Prosecutors had said the aides falsified the reports to cover up illicit political donations from a construction firm. The defendants denied the allegations.

Presiding Judge Ikuro Toishi said on Monday that general contractors were rigging bids for public works projects in the Tohoku region, which includes Ozawa's constituency of Iwate Prefecture.

He said the lawmaker's office had great influence over projects in the region.

The judge determined that 2 of the defendants received about 1.3 million dollars from a construction firm in return for helping it win a dam project. He said that although the 2 denied the allegations, the evidence shows that they did indeed receive the money.

He also said the money for the land purchase came from Ozawa himself, but the defendants falsified the political funding reports because if the truth was revealed, they would have to say how Ozawa got the money.

The judge handed down suspended sentences of one to 3 years for all the defendants.

Ozawa has also been indicted in the funding scandal. Monday's ruling is likely to affect his trial, which is due to start in October.

One of the defendants, Lower House lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, said he will appeal the ruling.

Ishikawa criticized the court for making what he calls one-sided speculations on points of contention, which the prosecutors did not even make.

Later, speaking at a news conference, the lawmaker denied receiving money from a construction firm the court recognized in the ruling.

He added that he will continue to serve as a Diet member.

Ishikawa said he cannot forget the word's of one prosecutor who said during the interrogation that the truth and results from court trials are different.

Prosecutors said the guilty ruling is the right decision and they are satisfied that the court upheld their position.