Tokyo Prosecutors to Consider Case Against LDP’s Abe Faction Accountant
The Public Prosecutors Office building is the center of an investigation into potential violations of the Political Funds Control Law by the Liberal Democratic Party’s Abe faction accountant, as reported by The Yomiuri Shimbun. The alleged case revolves around incomplete recording of income from political fundraising parties in the faction’s political funds reports.
Lawmakers of the LDP’s largest faction, once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have been asked to voluntarily provide answers to the office’s special investigation squad. Former secretaries general responsible for overseeing the faction’s practical affairs will also likely face questioning by the prosecutors.
The faction is suspected of distributing cash kickbacks to its members without recording the amount as income in their political funds reports, making the money “hidden funds.” The alleged kickbacks are estimated to total around ¥500 million over five years, while funds left off the faction’s reports may exceed ¥1 billion.
The Political Funds Control Law requires accurate recording of revenue and expenditures in political funds reports. However, the faction’s accountant allegedly failed to document the suspected kickbacks and may have prohibited such monies from being included in lawmakers’ own political funds reports.
During voluntary questioning, the accounting official admitted to not recording the kickbacks in the faction’s reports and detailed how the scheme worked. Several senior lawmakers, including Hirokazu Matsuno, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Koichi Hagiuda, Tsuyoshi Takagi, and Hiroshige Seko, are suspected of receiving kickbacks and creating hidden funds.
A full-scale investigation is expected to be launched as investigators strongly believe that the faction led the hidden-funds scheme in violation of the law. Individual lawmakers are also anticipated to be questioned on a voluntary basis regarding their involvement in receiving off-the-books kickbacks and the documentation of such funds in reports.
Beyond the Abe faction, the LDP’s Nikai faction led by Toshihiro Nikai and the Kishida faction formerly headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are also being investigated for potential underreporting of party income in their respective factions.
The Nikai faction is suspected of concealing over ¥100 million in income, while the Kishida faction is thought to have underreported several tens of millions of yen. Investigators are continuing their probe into both factions in light of these suspicions.
