Resumption of Kickback with Leaders’ Request

One of the biggest questions in the slush fund scandal in the Liberal Democratic Party is how the distribution of secret fund was restarted in the Abe faction, in spite of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to abolish that system. Some lawmakers explained that the leaders made that resumption with request from lawmakers, others did not tell the details. Former accounting manager, who was indicted with crime of illegal reporting of the funds, revealed that the decision was made in a meeting of the faction leaders in August 2022. 

Abe faction had been returning to its members the surpass over quota in the fundraising party ticket sales without reporting to the government. As the faction leader at the time, Abe proposed ending that kickback system and approved by other leaders in April 2022. The leaders in the meeting were Ryu Shionoya, Hakubun Shimomura, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Hiroshige Seko.

 

In the questions and answers in the Political Ethics Councils of both Houses of the Diet, Shionoya told that system was resumed in a meeting in August of the same year, after Abe was assassinated a month before. Other leaders denied Shionoya’s story.

 

Jun-ichiro Matsumoto, former accounting manager of Abe faction, testified in his trial at the court on June 18, 2024, that the kickback system was resumed in the meeting in August, 2022. “Because there were multiple numbers of lawmakers who requested resuming the kickback system, the leaders decided to do so,” said Matsumoto answering questions to defendant in his trial. He did not reveal the name of the leader who proposed the resumption in the meeting.

 

Matsumoto also revealed that the distribution of the fund was reported to the top leader of the faction. “After the fundraising party of the faction, I would explain about the total sales to the head of the faction and start the distribution after I got an approval of the head,” said Matsumoto about the party in 2019. The head of Abe faction then was late Hiroyuki Hosoda.

 

The leaders insisted that the resumption of kickback system was not concluded in the meeting of August, 2022. But they did not deny that there were some requests of resuming the kickback system or that the leaders discussed the resumption. Some reports indicated that Shimomura requested Matsumoto to resume the kickback system.

 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida failed in explaining the details of the kickback system in Abe faction, even after he conducted the investigation in the LDP. What Kishida did was punishing the related lawmakers with Abe faction and Nikai faction, or revising the law for reforming political fund system leaving loopholes in the law. His lack of leadership to disclose the details of political system in the LDP causes slowdown of his administration with public unpopularity.

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