Suzuki's Congolese aide has fake passport

A Congolese national hired by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Muneo Suzuki as his private secretary has been found to possess a fake diplomatic passport, Foreign Ministry officials said Tuesday.

According to communications from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo received early Tuesday through the Japanese Embassy in Kinshasa, the diplomatic passport John Muwete Muluaka has presumably been using is a forged document, the officials said.

In addition, the official passport Muluaka had previously used became invalid after the African country changed its name from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, the officials said.

The previously used official passport, issued Nov. 16, 1994, was legitimate when it was issued, according to the note from the Congolese Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry is consulting other government bodies to consider what action to take, the officials said.

A report on the Foreign Ministry's investigation into its alleged improper ties with Suzuki, released last week, indicated only that the Democratic Republic of the Congo responded it had no record of having issued a diplomatic passport to Muluaka.

As the passport was found to be counterfeit, Muluaka's legal status in Japan will probably be called into question.

The Foreign Ministry found Muluaka had permanent residency in Japan, but the status may be revoked if he gained it using the fake passport.

Muluaka is believed to have entered Japan in the 1980s using a passport issued by the government of Zaire. He has reportedly been in frequent contact with the Foreign Ministry in his capacity as secretary to Suzuki.