Politics & Government

Summary Indictment Eyed for Japan LDP Hagiuda’s Secretary

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Koichi Hagiuda

Jiji Press

16:41 JST, August 3, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Tokyo prosecutors are considering issuing a summary indictment of Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda’s policy secretary for violating the political funds control law over the LDP’s slush fund scandal, sources said Sunday.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is considering such an action after a panel of citizens ruled that the secretary of Hagiuda, a member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, should be prosecuted.

A summary indictment requires the consent of the person. If no consent is obtained, the secretary is expected to be indicted without arrest.

In a criminal complaint filed by a university professor, the secretary is accused of not including a total of ¥22.9 million in kickbacks from the now-defunct LDP faction linked to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in political funds reports for 2019 to 2022.

In December last year, the prosecutors office decided not to indict the secretary. But in June this year, the prosecution inquest panel in Tokyo demanded the person’s indictment, saying, “If we continue to let such cases escape prosecution, false entries in such reports will never disappear.”

Among the slush fund cases related to LDP lawmakers, the secretary’s case is the first one known to have received an inquest panel decision demanding prosecution. In response to the June judgment, the prosecutors office started reinvestigations.

Hagiuda was also hit by a criminal complaint over the financial issue, but he was not indicted due to insufficient evidence. The same panel judged it appropriate not to indict him.

In the scandal, criminal cases have been established against 11 people including four lawmakers, such as former Lower House member Yoshitaka Ikeda and Yasutada Ono, a lawmaker of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber.

Of them, a former chief accountant of the now-defunct faction linked to former Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai received a suspended prison sentence, as did the chief accountant of the former Abe faction. Both verdicts have become final.