Prosecutors arrest Rep. Yoshitaka Ikeda and secretary
Prime Minister Kishida: “I am very sorry…I have been expelled from the party.”
In relation to the slush fund scandal of the Seiwa Policy Research Group (aka Abe faction), the largest faction of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, it was reported that the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office arrested those involved for the first time on the 7th.
According to foreign media such as Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun and the Associated Press, the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office’s special department arrested Rep. Yoshitaka Ikeda and his policy secretary on charges of violating the Political Fund Regulation Act (making false statements).
The two are accused of conspiring to not properly record in their ledgers a total of 48 million yen (approximately 440 million won) in excess of ‘party ticket’ income from political fundraising events from the Abe faction between 2018 and 2022. This is a significantly larger amount than the 10 million yen (approximately 90 million won) each involved in the scandal is known to have received.
It is said that the prosecution determined that the collusion with the secretary was proven after searching the office of the National Assembly Hall and Rep. Ikeda’s home.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “very sorry” about the arrest and that the party had decided to expel Rep. Ikeda. He added that he is taking the issue seriously and plans to form an expert committee soon to discuss ways to strengthen regulations on political fundraising.
Since last year, the prosecution has been looking into suspicions of non-recording or false information about the political funds of five factions of the Liberal Democratic Party, including the Abe faction, in the income and expenditure reports.
In particular, the Abe faction is suspected of not listing the excess of quota returned to lawmakers as expenditures in the budget report. There are also suspicions of systematic slushing.
About 10 people involved in this, including Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ichiro Miyashita, and Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Junji Suzuki, resigned. Nevertheless, the approval rating for the Kishida cabinet has plummeted to below 20%.
Source: Donga
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