Missing Income of Five Factions

The Special Investigation Division of Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office began investigation on the five major factions in the leading Liberal Democratic Party with suspect that they failed in reporting their income in the fundraising parties between 2018 and 2021. The five factions include Kochi-kai, which head is Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. While Kishida urged each faction to correct the reports, the sense of legal compliance of the top leader of Japan is substantially doubted.

This scandal was revealed by Shimbun Akahata, the newspaper issued by Japan Communist Party, in November, 2022. The newspaper reported that the five major LDP factions concealed their income, which would amount ¥25 million. A professor of Kobe Gakuin University Hiroshi Kamiwaki thereafter submitted the public prosecutors office the accusations that the hidden income of the five factions would be as much as ¥40 million. Receiving the accusations, the special investigation office supposedly started interviewing to the officers of the five factions.

 

The Political Funds Control Act demands each political organization to fill in the name of buyers of party tickets, whose purchase amounts ¥200 thousand or more, and the amount on the political funding report. The alleged amount of missing income of each faction was: ¥19 million for Seiwa-kai (Abe faction), ¥9 million for Shisui-kai (Nikai faction), ¥6 million for Heisei-ken (Motegi faction), ¥4 million for Shikou-kai (Aso faction), and ¥2 millon for Kochi-kai (Kishida faction). Those factions are suspected as violating the Political Funds Control Act.

 

In the discussion at the Committee on Budget on Tuesday, the head of Constitutional Democratic Party Kenta Izumi asked Kishida about how he was recognizing the facts. “I was reported that there were some mishandlings on the political funding reports and they are in the process of correction,” said Kishida. The Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization, the secretary general of Heisei-ken, Yoshitaka Shindo did not answer the questions on this issue.

 

In Japanese politics, there are two ways of income for politicians: donation and ticket sales of parties. The factions hold parties as well, which income will be distributed to the members’ political activities including elections. Kishida denied the possibility of the missing income having used for secret purpose.

 

One of the reasons of Kishida administration’s unpopularity is obscure relationship between politics and money. Former State Minister of Justice Mito Kakizawa resigned with suspect of distributing money to the local assembly members. It is required for Kishida, as the president of LDP, to prove fairness and transparency of political money related to the lawmakers affiliated to his party.

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