AOMORI, March 8, 2010 - A former whaler at the centre of allegations of institutionalised embezzlement from the Japanese government funded whaling programme gave evidence today that indicates officials did not conduct a thorough inquiry into the original Greenpeace investigation, despite assurances to the contrary. He also detailed that it was common practice for crew to hold back for their own consumption, meat from baby whales caught during the hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
In 2008, the Fisheries Agency of Japan ordered the Institute for Cetacean Research and Kyodo Senpaku, the fleet operator, to conduct an internal inquiry into the Greenpeace allegations of embezzlement of whale meat. The inquiry officials claimed every crewmember had been interviewed in an exhaustive investigation and no evidence of corruption could be found. Instead, Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, known as the Tokyo Two, were arrested.
Today, the defence witness confirmed that despite being named as central to the Greenpeace allegations, he had not been interviewed as part of the official inquiry. This raises serious doubt as to the "thoroughness" of the investigation, and givies further evidence of the urgent need for it to be reopened.
"Today's witness totally contradicted the evidence given in Kyodo Senpaku's official report to the Fisheries Agency of Japan," said lead Tokyo Two defence counsel, Yuichi Kaido. "Every witness that has been called in this case to date has cast considerable doubt on the reliability of the official evidence against Sato and Suzuki."
During questioning about whether the crew took whale meat for personal use, the ex-crewmember also admitted that when juvenile whales were caught, prime cuts of were kept for the crew and processed separately from other whales. He told the court that their flesh is young and tender and good for making the best "unesu", or whale bacon. He said that this is the meat that is given to crewmembers as "souvenirs".
This admission directly contradicts the testimony of Kyodo Senpaku's Head of Sales, who under questioning on February 15 said that the meat given away was not of high quality. "Unesu" meat was the type intercepted by the Greenpeace activists during their investigation and given to the Tokyo District Prosecutor as evidence of embezzlement.
The trial will continue on March 9, with questioning of a whaling industry insider who came forward in support of the allegations of embezzlement, and the first round of evidence from Greenpeace activist Junichi Sato. Sato and Suzuki will both be questioned on March 10, and finally Prof. Dirk Voorhoof, an independent expert on Freedom of Expression, will give evidence on March 11. The trial will continue in May. A verdict is expected sometime in June.
In January 2008, Greenpeace began an investigation into insider allegations that organised whale meat embezzlement was being conducted by crew inside Japan's so-called 'scientific‘ whaling programme, which is funded by Japanese taxpayers. The informer was previously involved in the whaling programme, and following his advice Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki began an investigation, eventually discovering firm proof that cardboard boxes containing whale meat were being secretly shipped to the homes of whaling fleet crew - and then sold for personal profit. Junichi delivered a box of this whale meat to the Tokyo Prosecutors' Office in May 2008, and filed a report of embezzlement. However, the embezzlement investigation was dropped on 20 June - the same day that both men were arrested and then held for 26 days, 23 of which were without charge. They are currently facing up to ten years in prison for "theft" and "trespass".
