Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction ** faction was accused of receiving kickbacks through fundraising dinners The storm expanded, following the 12 ** factions including Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno***, the Special Investigation Department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday (19th) searched the ** faction and the second-order faction office on suspicion of violating the "Political Funds Control Law". It was the first time in 19 years that a faction's office had been searched.
At around 10 a.m. local time, the Tokyo Special Search Department conducted a house search of the ** faction office in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, and the Nikai faction was also searched. It has been reported that the Special Search Unit was divided into two routes, each sending more than 10 people to conduct the search, and then each of them was supported by additional manpower.
Personnel of the Special Search Department searched the offices of the ** faction and the second-order faction.
The ** faction, officially known as the "Seiwa Policy Research Association", is the largest faction in the Liberal Democratic Party and the mainstream faction of rightist conservatism. Former Prime Minister ** Jinzo was the president before his death, so he was commonly known as ** faction.
However, the ** faction, along with the main faction, the second-order faction (Zhishuaihui), has recently been accused of receiving kickbacks through fundraising dinners and receiving illegal donations of about 500 million yen (about HK$27 million) in the past five years, and failing to record this money in the political fund balance report as the party's income. According to the source, almost all members of the ** faction are suspected of receiving kickbacks. During the same period, the secret donations of the second-order sect were about 100 million yen (about HK$5.4 million).
* The accounting staff of the faction and the second order admitted when questioned by the Special Command that the funds were not recorded in the income and expenditure reports. Toshihiro Nikai, former chairman of the Nikai faction, said that he was deeply sorry for the concern and inconvenience caused to many people by the incident, and that he would sincerely cooperate with the request of the investigation department.
It is extremely rare for the offices of LDP factions to be searched, the last time was in 2004 when the Tokyo Special Investigation Department investigated the Japan Dental Federation's illegal donation of 100 million yen and searched for the Heisei Research Society (now the Motegi faction).
This scandal has hit the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hard, and all the cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, and political officials have been sent one after another, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who was reused after Kishida took office. Kishida replaced four ** cabinets, and Hirokazu Matsuno, who was suspected of receiving kickbacks, resigned, and was replaced by former Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
Although Kishida was not involved, his support was still hurt by this. According to the results of a nationwide *** survey conducted by Kyodo News last Saturday and Sunday, the approval rating of the Kishida cabinet was 223%, down from 28 in the previous survey (3-5 November).3%, the lowest record.
Kishida said at the party meeting that he believes that all the details, reasons and problems will become clear as the investigation progresses, and that the LDP will take necessary measures to rebuild public confidence in a timely and decisive manner while paying attention to the developments.
Taro Kono, Minister in charge of Digital Affairs, told reporters that the Political Funds Control Act is very difficult to understand, and believes that it is necessary not only to amend the law, but also to review the implementation of the law.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi also held a press conference saying that he was very sorry that the situation had come to this point, and promised that in the future, he would "take this matter seriously, closely monitor the progress of the investigation in the future, and take necessary countermeasures."