野田・坂井氏、ＮＴＴ会食認める　野党は参考人招致要求

　ＮＴＴによる総務省幹部の高額接待問題で、自民党の野田聖子幹事長代行と坂井学官房副長官は１１日、同社からそれぞれ総務相と総務副大臣在任中に接待されていたとの週刊文春の報道を受け、関係者と会食した事実を認めた。
　野田氏は党本部で記者団の取材に応じ、２度の会食は事実とした上で「仕事についてはほとんど話していない。プライベートな会合との認識だった」と主張。１回目の料金は割り勘で支払い、２回目はＮＴＴ側が負担していたため、報道を受けて同社側に返済したという。２回目の会食相手は、ＮＴＴ西日本の村尾和俊社長（当時）ら。
　一方、坂井氏は事務所を通じてコメントを出し、「会食は事実だ」と認めた。「篠原弘道ＮＴＴ会長から知人を紹介するとお誘いを受けて会食した」と説明。「飲食代は相手側の支払いだ。金額は聞いていない。会食の場で総務省の業務に関する要請や要望は全くない」と強調した。（2021/03/11-12:44）

Seiko Noda, executive acting secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Thursday that she had dined with the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. side when she served as communications minister.
   Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Manabu Sakai said in a statement that he had dined with NTT-related people when he was state minister for communications.
   Noda and Sakai made the comments following a recent report by the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine that they have been entertained by the NTT side.
   Speaking to reporters, Noda said that she has had dinners with people related to NTT twice. "We talked little about our duties," Noda said, describing the dinners as "private meetings."
   She said that she paid half of the cost for the first dinner. For the second dinner for which the NTT side fully paid, Noda said she repaid the fee after the magazine report.