FNN reports… “Suspicion of destruction of political fund party purchase list, etc.”
Fuji News Network (FNN) reported on the 8th that Yoshitaka Ikeda, a member of the House of Representatives (House of Representatives), who was arrested over the political funding issue of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party faction, is suspected of ordering the destruction of evidence.
Citing an official, FNN reported that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Office’s special department was aware of the destruction of recorded media data held in relevant offices before searching Rep. Ikeda’s office and other offices last month.
There are suspicions that factional materials containing a list of political funds purchased by the Abe faction, the Liberal Democratic Party’s largest faction, the Seiwa Policy Research Group, were also destroyed.
The Special Department reported that it is conducting an investigation under the belief that Rep. Ikeda ordered the destruction of evidence.
Previously, on the 7th, Representative Ikeda was arrested for the first time as a member of the National Assembly in the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office investigation into the Liberal Democratic Party’s political funds. He was charged with violating the Political Fund Regulation Act (making false statements).
Rep. Ikeda, a member of the Abe faction, is accused of conspiring with the person in charge of accounting to receive 40 million yen (approximately 440 million won) in slush funds over the five years until last year without recording them in the balance of payments report.
With Rep. Ikeda’s arrest, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s worries deepened.
Prime Minister Kishida announced on the 7th when Rep. Ikeda was arrested that he was expelled from the Liberal Democratic Party. When asked whether he would request resignation from his position as a member of the National Assembly, he said, “For now, we have confirmed the policy of expulsion. He said, “The policy we are setting as a party is more than that.”
Prime Minister Kishida said, “It is a very regrettable incident. “We are taking this seriously,” he said, adding, “I have repeatedly felt strongly that as a party, we must work to restore trust in politics with a strong sense of crisis.”
He said, “I will take the people’s voices seriously and make proper judgments about what to do to restore public trust.”
Japan’s Political Fund Regulation Act stipulates that organizations that have purchased party tickets worth more than 200,000 yen (approximately 1.7 million won) must be listed in the balance of payments report. Failure to fill out the information will result in imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to 1 million yen. If a conspiracy is established, people other than the accounting manager can be held guilty. The statute of limitations is 5 years.
Source: Donga
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