Japan PM Ishiba Says Corporate, Group Donations ‘Not Inappropriate’; Interpellations Start at Lower House

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:44 JST, December 2, 2024

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is also the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Monday that the LDP did not consider donations from companies and organizations to be “inappropriate,” during the first day of interpellations from party representatives at a plenary session of the House of Representatives. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other parties are calling for a ban on such donations in connection with the Political Funds Control Law reform.

CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda said, “Why is the ban on donations from companies and organizations, which is the main issue of the reform, not being put on the debate topic?” The CDPJ has been criticizing the donations as a “hotbed for corruption.”

Noda also demanded that the LDP lawmakers who failed to record funds they received in their political funds reports attend the lower house’s Deliberative Council on Political Ethics. In response, Ishiba said, “I am urging them to fulfill their accountability in light of the situation they find themselves in.”