Huser Ltd. President Susumu Ojima refused to answer most questions under oath Tuesday before a Diet committee in connection with the nationwide building safety scam in which his condominium development firm is a key player.
The panel members -- who tried to grill Ojima about why his firm allegedly sold condo complexes even after knowing their safety was in doubt, how he planned to compensate residents and about his close ties with politicians -- gained almost nothing from his testimony.
He did, however, admit that he met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe's policy secretary, Hiroshi Iizuka, to seek support to get the land ministry to provide government-backed loans of some 5 billion yen so the developer could compensate residents of the faulty condos.