A Japanese civil group presented a petition to the court on Tuesday, requesting a thorough investigation into the slush fund scandal of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Members of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement rallied before the legal proceeding against LDP's coping of the scandal, urging for actions from relevant authorities.
"The LDP has always been nontransparent about its finances, and this time it has finally been exposed. I thought the prosecutors would take action, but they seem to have some concerns and have not investigated the tax evasion issue in depth. I hope that the public can speak out loudly and push the prosecutors and local authorities to move on," said a protester.
The civil groups held a press conference after submitting the petition, where representatives and attorney of the civil group expressed frustration of the public that none of the key figures involved in the political scandal had been arrested.
"The amendment to the Political Funds Control Act recently passed by the LDP and the Komeito Party is meaningless and does not bring any improvement in essence. It is just a bogus bill that the two parties pushed through. The LDP slush fund scandal that started last year has still not been solved, so everyone is very angry," said Takakage Fujita, secretary-general of the civil group.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced that he will not run in the presidential election of the ruling LDP next month, saying he takes full responsibility for the slush fund scandal, while other possible LDP candidates have been avoiding the topic in public.
"Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave up the election because he knew he could not win. He reluctantly withdrew because he knew he would lose. Kishida lied. It's not just him, but the entire LDP that should be held accountable. Currently, 11 or 12 potential candidates are avoiding the topic. The most important issue is how to completely settle the slush fund problem, which has not been completely settled yet," Fujita said.
At the end of last year, five major LDP factions were suspected of paying kickbacks to member lawmakers who sold fundraising party tickets above their quota without recording the amount as revenue in its political fund reports.
Local media reports showed that the Abe faction was suspected to have pooled secret funds amounting to 600 million yen from 2018 to 2023, with more than 200 million yen involved by the Nikai faction. The underreported amount of the Kishida faction amounted to about 30 million yen from 2018 to 2020.
In February this year, a Japanese civil group filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on the grounds that the LDP members involved in the scandal were suspected of violating the Income Tax Law by accepting kickbacks. In early June this year, the prosecutors office decided not to accept the prosecution on the grounds that the facts of the crime could not be confirmed.
Japanese civil group calls for investigation into LDP slush fund scandal
Japanese civil group calls for investigation into LDP slush fund scandal
