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Muneo Suzuki

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Muneo Suzuki
鈴木 宗男
Suzuki in 2023
Leader of New Party Daichi
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 August 2002
Preceded byPosition established
Member of the House of Councillors
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 July 2019
ConstituencyNational
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
In office
11 September 1997 – 30 July 1998
Prime MinisterRyutaro Hashimoto
Preceded byJitsuo Inagaki
Succeeded byKichio Inoue
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
12 June 2005 – 15 September 2010
Preceded byTakafumi Yamashita
Succeeded byTakahiro Asano
ConstituencyHokkaido PR
In office
19 December 1983 – 10 October 2003
Preceded byIchiro Nakagawa
Succeeded byGaku Ishizaki (PR)
ConstituencyHokkaido PR (1996–2003)
Hokkaido-5th (1983–1996)
Personal details
Born (1948-01-31) 31 January 1948 (age 76)
Ashoro, Hokkaido
NationalityJapanese
Political partyNew Party Daichi
Other political
affiliations		LDP (1983–2002)
Independent (2002–2005, 2010–2017)
JIP (2019–2023)
RelativesTakako Suzuki (daughter)
Alma materTakushoku University
WebsiteOfficial blog

Muneo Suzuki (鈴木 宗男 Suzuki Muneo, born 31 January 1948), commonly known simply as "Muneo" due to his common last name, is a Japanese politician from Ashoro, Hokkaidō, currently serving as a member of the House of Councillors since 2019, representing the National PR block.

Early career

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He graduated from the Department of Political Science at Takushoku University in 1970, and before he graduated he began working for Ichirō Nakagawa, a Japanese member of the House of Representatives. Nakagawa committed suicide in a hotel in January 1983 for unknown reasons. Suzuki hoped to run for his seat, but Ichirō's son Shōichi Nakagawa, a Tokyo native, moved to Hokkaidō to run for his father's seat, and Suzuki successfully ran for a seat in a neighboring district. He was elected in December 1983 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

He was appointed Head of the Hokkaido Development Agency and the Okinawa Development Agency in 1997 and later as Vice Minister of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi.

Scandal and criminal convictions

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In 1999, while Suzuki was the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary to the former Prime Minister Obuchi, he pressured the Foreign Ministry to fund the Japanese-Russia Friendship House (nicknamed the "Muneo House"), which became a scandal in 2002 when it was revealed.

He left the LDP in 2002 and was arrested later that year for suspicion of accepting bribes from two Hokkaidō companies.[1][2][3] He did not run for reelection in the 2003 elections on the stated grounds that he was undergoing surgery to treat stomach cancer. His secretary Akira Miyano was convicted of bribery in 2003,[4] and Muneo was convicted of taking the bribes, failure to declare political donations, and perjury and sentenced to two years in prison and fined ¥11 million in November 2004. He remained free and in office as he appealed the conviction.

Muneo ran for the House of Councillors in 2004. He was defeated, but ran successfully for the House of Representatives of Japan in the 11 September 2005 elections after forming the New Party Daichi. He is the only elected member of the party.

On 7 September 2010, the Supreme Court of Japan unanimously upheld Suzuki's conviction and sentence. In response, Suzuki stated that he would file a complaint against the ruling. If the complaint is rejected, Suzuki will be removed from office and the fine and prison sentence will take effect. He would also be banned from running for public office for five years after completion of the prison sentence.[5] Suzuki was paroled on 6 December 2011 after serving one year in prison in Tochigi Prefecture.[6]

Later career

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His ban from public office expired on 30 April 2017, allowing him to run again for election. He ran in the 2017 general election as the head of the NPD list for the Hokkaido PR block but was not elected.[7] He ran again in the 2019 House of Councillors election on the National PR list for the Nippon Ishin no Kai. He won the most votes on the party's list and was thus elected for the first time since being removed from office in 2010.[8]

On 11 October 2023, Suzuki resigned from Nippon Ishin no Kai following calls for his expulsion from the party after he visited Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9]

Political positions

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References

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  1. ^ "Suzuki faces arrest over lumber bribe | the Japan Times Online". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  2. ^ "Suzuki enters plea of not guilty in court | the Japan Times Online". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  3. ^ "Japanese politician arrested". 19 June 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Suzuki aide gets suspended term in Kunashiri bid-rigging case | the Japan Times Online". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  5. ^ Kyodo News, "Lawmaker Suzuki loses bribery appeal", Japan Times, 9 September 2010, p. 1.
  6. ^ Ito, Masami, "Bribed lawmaker Muneo Suzuki out on parole", Japan Times, 7 December 2011, p. 2.
  7. ^ 比例区開票速報：北海道ブロック（定数8） (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Muneo Suzuki rebounds from cancer, 2010 bribes conviction to win seat in Upper House". The Japan Times. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  9. ^ "Muneo Suzuki quits Nippon Ishin before expulsion". Asahi Shimbun. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  10. ^ "毎日新聞ボートマッチ えらぼーと 2019参院選". 毎日新聞ボートマッチ えらぼーと 2019参院選 (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  11. ^ "アイヌ民族の「権利確立」を 鈴木宗男の１０年". オピニオンサイト「iRONNA（いろんな）」 (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
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