Former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Koichi Hagiuda has voluntarily submitted to questioning by prosecutors investigating a political fundraising scandal involving the Japanese ruling party's largest faction, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
Four other senior members of the faction, including former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, have already been questioned amid allegations that the group failed to declare hundreds of millions of yen in revenue from fundraising parties in political funding reports and created slush funds for its members.
Each of the five has told the prosecutors that they "were not aware" of the off-the-book funds, according to the sources.
The prosecutors are considering building a criminal case against the faction's accountant in charge while also looking into the level of involvement of the senior members of the faction, previously led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, over potentially systematic efforts to raise backdoor funds.
The Political Funds Control Act requires an accountant to submit a report on income and expenditures, and a failure to report can be punishable by imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 1 million yen. Lawmakers could also face criminal charges if suspected of colluding with accountants.
The prosecutors suspect the Abe faction circulated back extra revenues raised by its member lawmakers from selling tickets for the faction's gatherings.
The amount is believed to have totaled around 500 million yen ($3.5 million) over five years through 2022, a period for which the statute of limitations has not expired under the political funds control law, according to the sources.
In the latest case, the prosecutors are focusing on discussions that took place in the Abe faction in 2022 to halt the practice of reimbursing the extra funds to its members. However, this proposed change did not materialize due to opposition from faction members.
Hagiuda, who quit as LDP policy chief as the scandal unfolded, is a six-term House of Representatives member and was a close aide to Abe, has been regarded as the next prospective leader of the faction.
Matsuno, who also stepped down as the top government spokesman earlier this month, previously served as the faction's secretary general for two years through October 2021.
The three others who have been questioned are former LDP Diet affairs chief Tsuyoshi Takagi, who has been in the secretary general post since August 2022, Hiroshige Seko, former secretary general of the party in the House of Councillors, and Ryu Shionoya, who is currently the de facto head of the Abe faction.
Former trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who served as the faction's secretary general until August 2022, could also be questioned.
Struggling with low Cabinet support rates, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday in a speech in Tokyo that it is "possible" for discussions to take place to revise the political funds control law, which has often been criticized for containing loopholes enabling lawmakers to generate slush funds.
Kishida, who doubles as LDP president, has also pledged to set up a "new framework" inside his party to implement necessary measures aimed at preventing similar scandals from happening again, although he has not disclosed the specific steps.
Meanwhile, the government and the ruling parties are making arrangements to convene next year's regular diet session from around Jan. 26, according to a senior official.
They apparently believe that a later start of the session would give them more time to see how the investigation will unfold, which is expected to continue into next year. The ordinary session is held for 150 days.
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