Members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party expressed worry Tuesday over damage the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga may sustain from prosecutors questioning his predecessor Shinzo Abe in connection with possibly illegal spending on supporter dinner functions.
"I wouldn't say there is no impact" to the Suga government, said Toshihiro Nikai, the No. 2 of the LDP headed by Suga, at a press conference held after Abe was questioned Monday on a voluntary basis. Suga was Abe's right-hand man and served as his government's chief Cabinet secretary for nearly eight years.
The former premier faces allegations that his political group illegally covered part of the cost of dinner receptions for supporters. Abe has denied any wrongdoing since the scandal came to light in November last year.
The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan suggested it will increase pressure on Abe to front the Diet, maintaining that his explanations given last year to parliament over the matter were false.
"We will have an occasion for (Abe) to explain about repeatedly making false responses (at the Diet) and take responsibility," said Jun Azumi, the Diet affairs chief of the CDPJ.
CDPJ Secretary General Tetsuro Fukuyama also told reporters that Suga "cannot evade responsibility as he similarly made false statements as chief Cabinet secretary" of the Abe government.
Opposition parties have been asking the LDP to allow Abe to be summoned to a budget committee session of both chambers of the parliament to address allegations that a group managing his political funds spent more than 9 million yen ($87,000) to partially cover the cost of parties held at luxury Tokyo hotels between 2015 and 2019.
Asked about Abe's potential appearance at the Diet, Hiroshi Moriyama, the LDP's head of parliamentary affairs, said it is important to have the former premier offer explanations "in a manner that can gain public understanding."
"It is an extremely serious situation that a person who served as prime minister for seven years and eight months has been questioned" by prosecutors, said Akira Koike, second-in-command of the Japanese Communist Party. "It has become even more important to have him testify as a witness in public."
Meanwhile, Natsuo Yamaguchi, the head of the LDP's coalition ally Komeito party, said he plans to monitor future developments. "I want to see the results of the overall investigations," he said.
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