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DPJ unable to prove credibility of Livedoor e-mail+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Feb. 21_(Kyodo) _ The Democratic Party of Japan sees it difficult to prove the credibility of an e-mail which a party lawmaker alleges was sent by Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie over a 30-million-yen transfer to a son of Tsutomu Takebe, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, senior party lawmakers said Tuesday.
The main opposition party will continue to demand that the Diet exercise its investigative power in looking into facts and check related bank accounts, they said.
The LDP and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito party, are set to go on the offensive accusing the DPJ of bringing out the e-mail at the legislature without any clear materials of support.
In response to the coalition's demand for evidence, the main opposition party has promoted its own investigations to prove credibility of a freelance journalist who tipped in the e-mail and looked into the format and contents of the e-mail in detail, they said.
The party's investigations failed to find out e-mail addresses of the sender and the recipient and also part of the e-mail software's version information.
One senior DPJ lawmaker said it is unavoidable at this point for the e-mail to stir doubts about its authenticity.
The lawmaker said the DPJ will now cease looking into the e-mail's credibility but put its energy into pursuing the related bank accounts.
Another senior DPJ lawmaker said only Hisayuki Nagata, the DPJ member in the House of Representatives who took up the e-mail issue at a Budget Committee session last Thursday, believes in its authenticity.
Nagata claimed that Horie, who unsuccessfully ran in last year's general election as an LDP-backed independent, had instructed in a company e-mail that 30 million yen be sent to Takebe's son as a fee for electoral consultancy work.
The DPJ presented a copy of the e-mail to the executive board of the Budget Committee on Monday and called for exercising its investigative power.
Yoshihiko Noda, chairman of the DPJ Diet Affairs Committee, said Tuesday his party harbors strong interest in several bank accounts at home and abroad.
A probe into those accounts will clarify doubts about exchanges of money, Noda said.
Horie, former president of Livedoor, a financial and Internet service firm, was indicted last Thursday for alleged accounting fraud. He has been detained since his arrest Jan. 23.
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