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Tokyo, Feb. 11 (Jiji Press) — A civic group has filed a criminal complaint against Shinji Ishimaru, who was the runner-up in last July’s Tokyo gubernatorial election, for his alleged public offices election law violation over a campaign event.
In the complaint filed with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Monday, the group said that Ishimaru, former mayor of the city of Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, may have pledged to illegally pay a fee to a company that streamed the event live.
The Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine has reported that Ishimaru’s camp paid about ¥970,000 to the company’s side for live-streaming the event held during the campaign period for the gubernatorial election in the Japanese capital.
At a press conference Thursday, the Ishimaru side said that concerns about a possible breach of the election law were raised within his camp after an order was placed to the company, and that his camp paid the same sum of money as the order amount as a cancellation fee.
Staff of the company attended the campaign event as volunteers, the Ishimaru side added.
Ishimaru denied his involvement in the situation.
The civic group claimed in the complaint that the ¥970,000 paid to the company included about ¥450,000 for personnel costs, and that this could amount to paying-off, an act violating the election law.
The law bans paying fees over election campaigns as well as pledging to pay such fees, except to certain staff members.
Over the criminal complaint, Ishimaru said on his website that he will follow instructions from the authorities.
