CASH BAGS REPORTEDLY RETURNED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 2, 1992                   TAG: 9201020121
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short
CASH BAGS REPORTEDLY RETURNED
Law enforcement officials who accompanied a Virginia lawman on a junket to Japan last year say they promptly returned bags of cash given as gifts by their Japanese hosts.
Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Robert Suthard resigned last month after questions arose about a delay in his return of the money. Suthard will remain in office until a successor is chosen.
An aide to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley was one of several officials who received, and later returned, cash gifts during the trip in late April, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Wednesday.
The newspaper said the head of a trade association for narcotics officers also made the trip but denied receiving any money.
Five board members of the International Association of Chiefs of Police previously reported returning bags of money they received during the three-day, expenses-paid trip.
The junket was courtesy of a Buddhist leader with ties to computer giant NEC Corp., which sells computerized fingerprint systems to police agencies across the United States.
Each of the five received decorated paper gift bags containing thousands of dollars in cash from Seiyu Kiriyama, head of the Agon-shu Buddhist sect.
The others who made the trip for the dedication of Kiriyama's new headquarters and temple in Niigata were Rose Ochi, Bradley's executive assistant and city director for criminal justice planning, and John Bellizzi, executive director of the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association based in Albany, N.Y.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB