Former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai was sentenced Friday to three years in prison and a forfeiture of 1.3 million yen ($12,000) in a high-profile case over buying votes for his wife in the 2019 upper house election.
Dismissing Kawai's claim of partial innocence, the Tokyo District Court ruled that he handed out a total of 28.7 million yen to 100 local assembly members and supporters in his wife Anri's constituency in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan.
"It is an extremely malicious crime that significantly undermined a fair election, the foundation of democracy," Presiding Judge Yasuaki Takahashi said.
Prosecutors had sought a four-year prison term and the forfeiture of 1.5 million yen during the 58-year-old former House of Representatives lawmaker's trial.
The defense appealed the ruling, having sought a suspended sentence on the grounds that Kawai had admitted to most of the charges and resigned as a lawmaker.
His bail granted in March was revoked after Kawai was convicted and again remanded in custody at the Tokyo Detention House. The defense requested his release on bail again Friday, but it was rejected.
The ruling did not touch on the unusually large sum of 150 million yen that the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters provided to Anri Kawai's camp ahead of the 2019 House of Councillors election.
Katsuyuki Kawai has denied that the money was used for buying votes. His wife won a seat in the July 2019 election, but she resigned as an upper house member in February this year.
Anri Kawai's campaign was supported by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, now prime minister, and other senior LDP lawmakers.
According to the ruling, the former justice minister gave about 29 million yen to 100 local politicians and supporters to secure votes for his wife in the upper house election.
Kawai asserted his innocence at the beginning of the trial last August but reversed course and pleaded guilty later, telling a court hearing in March, "I cannot deny that I desired to get my wife elected."
He admitted that the cash he gave out to 90 individuals was for vote buying and resigned as a lawmaker.
The LDP headquarters had approved Anri Kawai as an additional candidate in the Hiroshima constituency with the aim of winning two seats, but the prefectural party chapter did not back the move.
The prosecution cited the difficult situation as a motive for Kawai's actions.
In January this year, the Tokyo court sentenced Anri Kawai to 16 months in prison, suspended for five years, for conspiring with her husband and handing out 1.6 million yen in total to four Hiroshima prefectural assembly members between March and May in 2019.
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