ＯＤＡリベート 国際的な信用を損ねる行為だ

The Yomiuri Shimbun 6:47 pm, May 02, 2014
Japan firm’s illicit kickback payments harm nation’s international reputation
ＯＤＡリベート　国際的な信用を損ねる行為だ

A kickback scandal has been brought to light involving a Japanese company participating in the nation’s official development assistance projects in Asian countries.
　アジア諸国への政府開発援助（ＯＤＡ）事業を巡り、不正なリベート提供が発覚した。

ODA, which is designed to help boost the economies of developing countries through the distribution of taxpayers’ money, is a key international contribution effort that Japan has been involved with for decades. Irregularities in ODA projects serve only to exacerbate corruption in recipient countries, and are bound to undermine international trust in Japan.
　公金を投入して、開発途上国の経済発展を支援するＯＤＡは、日本が長年取り組んできた重要な国際貢献活動である。その事業における不正は、相手国の腐敗を助長し、日本の国際的な信用も損ねる。

The Foreign Ministry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the governmental body responsible for the integrated administration of ODA projects, must be thorough in preventing irregularities from occurring again.
　外務省や、ＯＤＡを一元的に実施する国際協力機構（ＪＩＣＡ）は、再発防止を徹底すべきだ。

The company that offered questionable kickbacks is Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc., a consulting firm mainly engaged in railway construction projects.
　リベートを提供したのは、鉄道コンサルタント会社「日本交通技術」（ＪＴＣ）だ。

According to investigations by a JTC-commissioned third-party committee, the company paid kickbacks worth a total of ¥160 million to civil servants in Indonesia, Vietnam and Uzbekistan in connection with ODA-funded projects from 2009 to earlier this year.
ＪＴＣの第三者委員会の調査によると、インドネシア、ベトナム、ウズベキスタンの政府関係者らに、計１億６０００万円を支払ったという。

The kickbacks are believed to have been paid in return for such things as contracts to design railway systems that the ODA recipient governments awarded to JTC. The kickbacks are suspected to have violated the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, which prohibits companies from offering bribes to foreign government officials. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigation squad that has just embarked on a probe of the case should make every effort to uncover the whole truth of the kickback scandal.
　資金提供は鉄道建設の設計などを受注する見返りと見られる。外国公務員への贈賄を禁じた不正競争防止法に違反する疑いがある。捜査を始めた東京地検特捜部には、全容解明を求めたい。

Officials of JTC have been quoted as saying they were under extremely strong pressure from government officials in the recipient countries to pay kickbacks. In reply to queries by the third-party committee, JTC employees involved reportedly said they were afraid of failing to win contracts if they turned down the kickback demands.
　ＪＴＣは相手国の政府関係者から、執拗しつようにリベートを要求されていた。第三者委の調査に対し、ＪＴＣ社員は「要求を断れば、受注できなくなる恐れがあった」と釈明している。

U.S., Europe stringent

Payment of unlawful cash behind the scenes in connection with ODA-funded projects is rampant in many countries. JTC may have seen the clandestine kickbacks as a necessary evil.
　交渉の裏で不正な金銭のやりとりが横行する国は少なくない。ＪＴＣ側には、「リベートは必要悪」との認識があったのだろう。

Providing cash to foreign government officials with the authority to issue orders for ODA-related projects is obviously illegal. It is quite natural that the third-party committee has pointed out JTC “is not a victim, subject to demands for bribes, but an accomplice in wrongdoing that promotes corruption in these countries.”
　だが、事業発注の権限を持つ公務員への資金提供は、明らかな違法行為だ。第三者委が「ＪＴＣは被害者ではなく、不正の共犯者」と批判したのは当然である。

A case was revealed in 2008 in which a Japanese company gave bribes to a Vietnamese senior government official. The incident prompted Japan’s Foreign Ministry to set up sections in 2009 at diplomatic establishments abroad and elsewhere that were exclusively tasked with providing relevant information and accepting inquiries concerning pecuniary wrongdoing.
　ＯＤＡを巡っては、２００８年にベトナム高官への贈賄事件が摘発された。これを機に、外務省は翌０９年、不正に関する情報や相談を受け付ける専用の窓口を在外公館などに設置した。

The president of JTC, however, was reportedly unaware that such sections even existed. It is highly regrettable that the lessons from past incidents failed to be used effectively. The ministry must redouble its efforts to ensure that the information and inquiry sections effectively prevent irregularities.
　ＪＴＣの社長は、この窓口の存在すら知らなかったという。過去の事件の教訓が生かされなかったのは残念だ。外務省は相談窓口を有効に機能させ、不正防止につなげる必要がある。

The export of infrastructure to developing countries has been defined as a major pillar of the growth strategy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration. It is indispensable for the Foreign Ministry to scrutinize the situation in recipient countries from the planning and design stages of ODA-funded projects, and check carefully for problems with the projects’ implementation.
　開発途上国へのインフラ輸出は政府の成長戦略の柱に位置付けられている。外務省は、ＯＤＡの企画・立案段階から相手国の実情を把握し、執行状況もしっかりチェックすることが欠かせない。

Investigative authorities in the United States and European countries have taken stringent stands toward offering bribes to foreign civil servants. Some Japanese companies have been fined huge amounts over bribes abroad.
　外国公務員への贈賄に対し、欧米の捜査当局は厳しい姿勢で臨んでいる。日本企業が巨額の罰金を支払わされる事例も出ている。

Companies illegally providing funds to foreign government officials will find the practice carries a higher price than they know. Japanese firms operating overseas must take this to heart anew.
　不正な資金提供は、極めて大きな代償を伴う。海外で事業展開する日本企業は、改めて肝に銘じなければならない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 2, 2014)