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The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s largest faction appears to have underreported income from fundraising events meant to reward party members for more than a decade, an internal investigation by the party revealed on Thursday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaking to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office on February 15, 2024 (Kyodo News)
According to the investigation report, the funds received were used for social gatherings, personnel expenses, and vehicle purchases, but the names of the members and the amount spent were not disclosed.
The report also stated that 32 party members were aware that the money was returned from their faction, and 11 of them noticed that the money was not listed on political funding documents, indicating that 32 members of the largest group were aware that the money was returned from their faction. It is believed that the members of Congress received the money in cash. .
The Liberal Democratic Party’s investigation team, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, interviewed 91 people, including members of the Diet and officials from internal party organizations, who decided to disband the party after the slush fund scandal was discovered at the end of last year.
Kishida told reporters late on Thursday that he would “continue to demand accountability” from the Liberal Democratic Party members involved in the scandal, with reports calling for tougher penalties for political funding-related misconduct within the ruling party. said.
Kenta Izumi, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized the Liberal Democratic Party’s report, saying, “It doesn’t say anything important and is a sloppy investigation.”
Another survey released earlier this week found that 85 of the 384 Liberal Democratic Party members, including 10 candidates for the next general election, underreported their income in their political funding documents.
However, opposition parties have accused the previous investigation of not investigating how unreported funds were used by Liberal Democratic Party members, including those from the largest faction once led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Liberal Democratic Party has come under intense scrutiny after three factions, including one where Mr. Kishida served as party leader until December, were suspected of failing to report some of their income from fundraising parties and accumulating slush funds. has been done.
A total of 10 people belonging to three groups were indicted or summary indicted by prosecutors. However, the faction’s leaders have not faced criminal charges due to a lack of evidence of their involvement.
In January, the Liberal Democratic Party announced internal reform plans to strengthen governance, pledging to move away from factionalism as a means of securing funding and allocating key government and party positions to members.
According to people involved, the opposition party asked the House of Representatives to agree to convene a political ethics committee, but Mr. Kishida instructed the Liberal Democratic Party to convene it.
On Thursday, Koichi Hagiuda, a leading member of Abe’s faction, said he intended to appear before the committee if the appropriate conditions were met. The lawmaker, who resigned as Liberal Democratic Party policy chairman in December, admitted to failing to report approximately 27 million yen ($180,000) over the five years up to 2022.
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