Another Lawmaker’s Offices Raided over Funds Scandal

Jiji Press

17:46 JST, December 28, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The public prosecutors searched locations related to House of Councillors member Yasutada Ono on Thursday over a high-profile political funds scandal involving the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s largest faction.

Ono, 64, became the second lawmaker to be subject to a compulsory investigation over the scandal in which the faction once led by slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe allegedly created slush funds from fundraising party revenues.

The locations searched by investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of violating the political funds control law included Ono’s office in a parliamentary members’ building in Tokyo.

Ono, who was elected to the Upper House from Gifu Prefecture, is suspected of receiving about ¥50 million in kickbacks from the faction without recording the money in his political funds reports.