Disgraced ex-lawmaker commits suicide

KITA-KYUSHU--Hisayasu Nagata, a former opposition lawmaker who resigned in disgrace after causing a political stir with a fake e-mail fiasco in 2006, fell to his death from a building here over the weekend.

Police said they are treating the case as suicide.

Nagata, 39, a former Lower House member of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), left an apparent suicide note.

Nagata was found sprawled in the parking lot of an 11-story apartment building in Yahata-Nishi Ward after police were alerted by a neighborhood resident around 6:25 p.m. Saturday. He was confirmed dead at 7:06 p.m.

A notebook containing what appears to be a suicide note was found on a staircase landing between the building's 10th and 11th floors, police said.

An empty 1.8-liter carton of shochu distilled spirit was found on the stairs, they said. Nagata did not live in the building.

A former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, Nagata won his first Lower House seat from a Chiba Prefecture constituency in 2000. He was successfully returned to the Diet two more times.

In February 2006, Nagata caused a commotion when he claimed to have a copy of an e-mail message that hinted at a link between a senior ruling party lawmaker and Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie, who was indicted in a financial scandal.

Nagata told a Lower House panel the message showed Horie had instructed that 30 million yen be sent to the second son of Tsutomu Takebe, then Liberal Democratic Party secretary-general.

Nagata later acknowledged that he had been duped by an e-mail message faked by a third person. He apologized to Takebe and others and resigned his Diet seat in April.

The prolonged mishandling of the issue led to the resignation of Seiji Maehara as Minshuto president. He was replaced by Ichiro Ozawa, the current leader.

Nagata had been hospitalized for a time in Kita-Kyushu, according to sources.(IHT/Asahi: January 5,2009)