A Tokyo court has fined former trade minister Isshu Sugawara 400,000 yen ($3,600) for sending money and flowers to voters in his constituency in violation of Japan's election law, court officials said Monday.
The Tokyo Summary Court has also ordered suspension of Sugawara's right to vote or run for public office for three years.
On June 8, prosecutors issued a summary indictment against Sugawara, dealing a blow to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, which was already under fire for similar scandals involving former ministers.
Sugawara, 59, briefly headed the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2019 under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He left the LDP on June 2 and resigned from the House of Representatives the following day.
According to the indictment, Sugawara donated a total of 530,000 yen as condolence and congratulatory money and spent 270,000 yen on flowers given to 33 organizations and 26 people in his constituency in Tokyo between 2018 and 2019.
Such a violation of the Public Offices Election Law usually leads to a five-year suspension of the right to vote or run in an election, though courts can choose to shorten the period.
The former minister said in a statement he takes the punishment "seriously and deeply regrets" what he did.
In June last year, prosecutors decided not to indict Sugawara after taking into account that he had stepped down as minister in October 2019 and apologized for the matter.
But the case was revived after a civil inquest body decided in February his alleged actions merited indictment.
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