Japan Lawmakers ‘Secretly Pooled Excess Money from Ticket Sales’
18:03 JST, December 21, 2023
People affiliated with lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Abe faction have told the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office that the lawmakers sometimes pooled quota-exceeding cash from party ticket sales without notifying the faction, it has been learned.
The special investigation squad believes the concealed funds should have been officially included as part of the faction’s income, in keeping with the kickbacks that lawmakers received from the faction side. It is thus suspected that the amount of unreported funds may increase.
Members of the faction — formerly led by late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — and the faction itself are suspected of excluding quota-exceeding kickbacks from party ticket sales.
These unreported funds are thought to have totaled about ¥500 million over the past five years. Investigators raided the faction’s offices Wednesday on suspicion that the Political Funds Control Law had been violated, and confiscated many items.
According to sources, people connected to lawmakers of the Abe faction, which is also known as Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai, explained to the prosecutors’ squad that the lawmakers paid only their official quota to the faction, while secretly pooling the excess money at their offices, excluding it from their political fund reports.
Some lawmakers reportedly pooled several million yen over the five-year period. The prosecutors are believed to be investigating whether or not lawmakers pooled such cash, and if so, how they spent it.
Unlike kickbacks, pooled money is not recorded in the LDP’s factions’ accounting documents. However, the prosecutorial squad believes such monies should have been logged as factional income, because it was derived from faction-related parties.
The Abe faction’s unreported income and expenses are thought to total about ¥1 billion, but this figure could be much higher if the pooled money was included.
A lawmaker-related source who admitted pooling excess funds said, “We treated the money as a compensatory fund in case we didn’t reach the party-related event quota in the following year and beyond.”
"Politics" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
China Firm ‘Developed System to Manipulate Public Opinion’; Leaked Information Describes Hijacking Social Media Accounts (UPDATE 1)
-
Japan, U.S., S. Korea Coast Guards Sign Pledge to Strengthen Cooperation
-
Japan’s Opposition Party CDPJ Sweeps 3 By-Elections in Lower House (UPDATE 1)
-
Japan Considering Bid to Join Australia’s Frigate Project; Boost to Domestic Defense Industry Expected
-
Japan’s LDP Battles to Avoid ‘Total Defeat’ in By-Elections; Opposition Party Guards against Overconfidence
JN ACCESS RANKING
- Weakening Yen Adds Complexity to BOJ’s Rate Hike Decisions; Rising Commodity Prices may Impact ‘Virtuous Cycle’ Efforts
- Japanese Seafood Exports to China Sink 57% in FY23; U.S. Becomes Largest Seafood Export Destination
- 70% of Japan Companies to Raise Pay Scales in FY 2024
- Minutes Show Policymaker Wants BOJ to Consider Further Rate Hikes Further
- ASEAN Plus 3 Share Concerns About Excessive Exchange Rate Fluctuation; Seeking Stability in Exchange Rate