前法相の元政策秘書、無罪主張　公選法違反初公判―広島地裁

　自民党の河井案里参院議員が初当選した昨年７月の参院選で、車上運動員に法定上限を超える報酬を支払ったとして、公選法違反（買収）罪に問われた河井克行前法相＝衆院広島３区＝の元政策秘書、高谷真介被告（４３）の初公判が１２日、広島地裁（杉本正則裁判長）であり、高谷被告は起訴内容を否認した。
　高谷被告は「報酬額を決めたことはなく、支払いに関与したこともない」と述べ、無罪を主張した。
　検察側は冒頭陳述で、高谷被告が克行氏の政策秘書を務めていた昨年４月中旬から広島市内に常駐し、案里氏の選対本部事務長補佐の肩書でマスコミ対応をしたり、選対本部の職員に指示を与えたりしていたと指摘。車上運動員の報酬決定の際には、案里氏の公設第２秘書立道浩被告（５４）＝公判中＝らに１日当たり３万円という内容を伝え、立道被告が陣営スタッフに伝達したとした。
　起訴状によると、高谷被告は昨年７月１９～２３日ごろ、立道被告らと共謀し、ウグイス嬢と呼ばれる車上運動員１４人に対し法定上限（日当１万５０００円）を超える報酬計２０４万円を支払ったとされる。（2020/06/12-18:22）

A former policy secretary to former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai denied Friday charges of election law violation over a campaign for Kawai's wife, Anri, for last July's House of Councillors poll.
   In the first hearing for his trial at Hiroshima District Court in western Japan, Shinsuke Takaya, 43, denied playing any part in over-the-limit payments to campaign workers. "I've never been involved in a decision on how much (the workers) should get or in the payment processes."
   Anri, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, won her first parliamentary seat in the July 21, 2019, election for the upper chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament. She ran in the poll from the Hiroshima prefectural constituency.
   Katsuyuki, also an LDP member and lawmaker in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, resigned as justice minister last autumn, after the wife's election campaign scandal came to light.
   According to the indictment, Takaya violated the public offices election law for conspiring with those including Hiroshi Tatemichi, 54, a state-paid secretary to Anri, to pay a daily amount exceeding the legal limit of 15,000 yen per person to 14 campaign workers for Anri between around July 19 and 23 last year. Total payments reached 2.04 million yen.