Japan prosecutors won’t pursue case against ex-ministers over LDP funding scandal: report
- The investigators will give up prosecuting the group due to the difficulty of proving fundraising violations in the case, a report says
- Accounting staff from the so-called Abe faction have admitted the alleged activities and are likely to be prosecuted, the report adds
Japanese investigators will give up prosecuting a former trade minister and other ruling party heavyweights over alleged fundraising violations due to the difficulty of proving the case, newspaper Mainichi reported on Saturday.
The alleged irregularities have already led to a decision by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to force four ministers out of his cabinet last month, and whether they will be prosecuted has been the focus for the continuity of the unpopular administration.
Tokyo prosecutors are giving up building criminal cases against recent secretary generals of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s biggest faction formerly headed by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe including former trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and former chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Mainichi reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
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The investigators have interviewed Nishimura, Matsuno and two other faction bigwigs, but they denied collusion in raising funds and distributing them to faction members without required disclosures, while the faction’s accounting staff have admitted the alleged activities and will likely be prosecuted, Mainichi said.
The prosecutor’s office could not be reached for comment outside business hours. The office previously said it could not comment on any ongoing investigation. Nishimura and Matsuno have not commented on media reports about their alleged involvement.
Prosecutors will still file criminal cases against three Abe faction lawmakers for allegedly not reporting the money they raised through the faction in their individual disclosures, Japanese media have said. House of Representatives member Yoshitaka Ikeda from the intraparty group became the first person to be arrested earlier this month.
Prosecutors suspect the Abe faction and its lawmakers failed to report as much as 600 million yen (US$4.14 million) in funds over five years, while the LDP’s smaller Nikai faction and its members were believed to have not reported more than 200 million yen, according to media reports.
The Kishida administration’s support sank to around 20 per cent of the electorate in mid-December polls, the lowest for any Japanese prime minister in more than a decade.
On Thursday, a “political reform” panel within the LDP held its first meeting to review rules for making the handling of political funds by its factions more transparent.
Its line-up of 38 members includes Kishida, who heads the LDP, and 10 from the Abe faction called Seiwaken, or the Seiwa policy study group.
Kishida told reporters on Saturday that he has no plans to remove certain lawmakers from the panel, ruling out the possibility of replacing those from the Abe faction.
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