翻訳 61 (w)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%AD%E5%92%8C%E9%9B%BB%E5%B7%A5%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6
The Shо̄wa Denkо̄ scandal (昭和電工事件, shо̄wa denkо̄ jiken) was a corruption scandal that occurred in 1948. It is also referred to as the Shо̄wa Denkо̄ Case (昭電事件) and the Shо̄wa Denkо̄ bribery scandal (昭電汚職、昭電疑獄).
1 Summary
2 Case history
3 Investigation results
4 GHQ conspiracy theory
Summary
Hinohara Setsuzо̄, company president of major chemical engineering firm Shо̄wa Denkо̄, bribed high government officials and management of the government financial agency in order to obtain government-financed loans from the Reconstruction Finance Bank (RFB). Setsuzо̄'s activities came to light in June 1948, and resulted in the ousting of Colonel Charles Louis Kades, when rumors emerged claiming that high officials including Kades had taken bribes. Kades worked for the Government Section, a department of the GHQ (also known as SCAP, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers) that was in charge of furthering Japanese democratization. It has been said that the GHQ General Staff Section (G2), headed by Major General Charles Willoughby, and which had a long standing conflict with the Government Section, was involved in operations behind the scenes in an effort to discredit Kades, a liberal, in addition to right wing thinker Miura Giichi, who assisted in Kades' ousting.
It was the police who initially discovered the wrongdoing. A team including Hatano Akira, who at the time was head of the Second Investigation Division and later went on to serve as Superintendent General of Metropolitan Police, conducted a secret investigation. They became convinced that what they found would become a huge political corruption scandal that could bring down the government, but pushed on with the investigation regardless. Over the course of the investigation they discovered that GHQ employees had also received money, and it became clear that this structural corruption involved GHQ, as well as the government and financial sector. As a result, people within GHQ who were aware of the situation applied pressure, shut police out from the investigation and engineered a situation where prosecutors had to take orders from GHQ. This was a motivating factor in the police deciding to leak information. Hatano Akira took the step of sending Christian Science Monitor reporter Gordon Walker a list of names of officials working in GHQ who were suspected of corruption. Gordon Walker immediately paid a visit to GHQ, asked if it was true that they were interfering with police activites and presented the list. It immediately put a stop to GHQ's intervention in police matters, though Gordon Walker was subsequently suddenly transferred to the Korean Peninsula. Similarly, Hatano was suddenly transferred to a different post, as was Chief Detective Fujita, and the investigation was handed from the police to prosecutors. The prosecutors' investigation did not result in any allegations made towards GHQ [5].
The arrests began with Fukuda Takeo, a Ministry of Finance bureaucrat and future Prime Minister, and О̄no Banboku, an authority in the Democratic Liberal Party and future Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party, before extending further to arrests of high ranking government official and cabinet ministers. Due to the arrests of both Kurusu Takeo, Secretary General of the Economic Stabilization Agency, and Nishio Suehiro, former deputy Prime Minister, as well as mass resignations, the cabinet of Ashida Hitoshi collapsed, resulting in Yoshida Shigeru of the Democratic Liberal Party forming a cabinet [4]. Former Prime Minister Ashida was himself also arrested, though ultimately all politicians other than Kurusu Takeo were acquitted.
Case history
1948
April 27: Bribes surrounding Shо̄wa Denkо̄'s RFB loans raised in the House of Representatives. Around the same time Shо̄wa Denkо̄ receives over 2.3 billion yen ($21 million USD) in RFB loans for the expansion of a fertilizer plant, company president Hinohara Setsuzо̄ disseminates huge amounts of money to figures in politics, government and business.
June 23: Company president Hinohara is arrested.
September 13: Fukuda Takeo, Director of the Budget Bureau at the Ministry of Finance, is arrested on suspicion of receiving 100,000 yen ($930) in bribes.
September 18: О̄no Banboku, Democratic Liberal Party adviser, is arrested on suspicion of receiving 200,000 yen ($1,800) in bribes.
September 30: Kurusu Takeo, Secretary General of the Economic Stabilization Agency, is arrested on suspicion of receiving 300,000 yen ($2,700 USD) and other items in bribes.
October 6: Nishio Suehiro, former Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary General of the Socialist Party, was arrested on suspicion of receiving 1 million yen ($9,300 USD) in bribes.
October 7: Mass resignation of the Ashida cabinet.
December 6: A plenary session of the House of Representatives grants the request for arrest warrants to be made for Ashida Hitoshi, Kitaura Keitarо̄ and Kawahashi Toyojirо̄ by a margin of 20 votes.
April 13, 1962: The Supreme Court sentenced former company president Hinohara Setsuzо̄ to one year imprisonment with a five years suspended sentence.
November 1962: Kurusu Takeo was handed down an eight month prison sentence suspended for a year and ordered to pay 1.5 million yen ($14,000 USD).
Other defendants were nearly all acquitted [6].
Investigation results
The following is a list of people who were involved in bribery surrounding loans from the RFB and Industrial Bank of Japan, in addition to the Secretary General of the Economic Stabilization Agency Kurusu Takeo and Shо̄wa Denkо̄ company president Hinohara Setsuzо̄.
1. Recipients of bribes given by company president Hinohara Setsuzо̄:
- Shigemasa Seishi, former vice minister for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Chairman of the Board for Nihon Hiryо̄, received 1.7 million yen ($15,000 USD) and 1 million shares
- Kurusu Takeo, Minister of State and Secretary General of the Economic Stabilization Agency, received 450,000 yen ($4,200 USD)
- Ninomiya Yoshimoto, Director of the Reconstruction Finance Bank and Vice Governor of the Japan Industrial Bank, received 1.2 million yen, house repairs worth 171,000 yen ($1500 USD) and clothes worth 32,000 yen ($290 USD)
- Tsuda Nobuhide, Technical Official for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, received 40,000 yen ($370 USD) and clothes and other goods worth 83,000 yen ($770 USD)
- Maruyama Jirо̄, managing director of Yasuda Bank, received 100,000 yen ($930 USD) and hanging scrolls worth 325,000 yen
- Fukuda Takeo, Director of the Budget Bureau at the Ministry of Finance, received 100,000 yen ($930 USD)
- Tsutomu Nomiyama, Director, First Division of the Chemical Fertilizer Department, Chemicals Bureau, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, received 60,000 yen ($560 USD)
- Yokoyama Akira, First Section Manager of Loans at Yasuda Bank Head Office, received 60,000 yen ($560 USD)
2. Recipients of bribes given by Fujii Takashi, Managing Director of Shо̄wa Denkо̄:
- Yokoyama Akira (as above), received 30,000 yen ($280 USD)
- Takabe Masaru, Finance Manager at Yasuda Bank, received 30,000 ($280 USD)
- Higuchi Shunji, Assistant Director at the Ginza Branch of Sanwa Bank, received 20,000 yen ($180 USD)
- Hashimoto Harunosuke, acting Branch Manager at the Ginza Branch of Sanwa Bank, 15,000 yen ($140 USD)
- Yokota Noboru, Branch Manager at the Ginza Branch of Sanwa Bank, received 40,000 yen ($370 USD)
GHQ conspiracy theory
There is a strong case that this scandal was utilized by GHQ G2 to remove members of the Government Section with the aim of establishing a conservative cabinet [4].
References
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E6%B5%A6%E7%BE%A9%E4%B8%80
