Prosecutors said Tuesday they decided not to indict former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over allegations his camp illegally paid for dinner receptions held for supporters, officially bringing to an end a high-profile political scandal that came to light two years ago.
It is the second time the Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office's special investigations unit has made such a decision since lawyers and scholars filed a criminal complaint against Abe in May last year.
The dinner events cost 23 million yen ($200,000) over a five-year period through 2019, much more than the amount collected from attendees, many of whom were voters in Abe's constituency in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan.
The costs were partially covered by a group managing Abe's political funds, although he initially denied this. Abe later said he was unaware that his group had shouldered some of the costs.
In December 2020, the prosecutors decided not to press charges against Abe over the allegations because of insufficient evidence while indicting his state-paid secretary, who was later fined, for failing to report handling of funds related to the dinner functions between 2016 and 2019.
An inquest body concluded in July that the prosecutors should reopen the case to see whether Abe was engaged in the act of endowment at the dinner events. The body also alleged he was negligent in supervisory responsibility.
"I believe prosecutors made the decision as a result of impartial investigations," Abe said in a statement.
Opposition parties demanded that Abe explain the matter in parliament.
"Many people are still voicing disbelief. (Abe) should fulfill his responsibility of explaining (what happened) in parliament," Chinami Nishimura, secretary general of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told a press conference.
Related coverage:
Japan gov't to pay damages over bureaucrat suicide linked to ex-PM scandal
Ex-PM Abe becomes head of largest faction in Japan's ruling party
Japan to reopen probe into ex-PM Abe's dinner spending scandal
