Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday started discussions to review rules for making the handling of political funds by its factions more transparent, in the wake of an ongoing secret slush money scandal that has shaken the LDP.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who heads the LDP, held the "political reform" panel's first meeting, with approval ratings for his Cabinet having plunged to their lowest levels since he took office in October 2021 against the backdrop of the scandal.
The panel is set to compile an interim report before the ordinary parliamentary session is convened, possibly on Jan. 26, with Kishida saying the LDP "has to change" in order to restore the public's trust in politics and protect Japan's democracy.
Kishida, who led the fourth-largest intraparty group until early December, has said he may urge lawmakers to consider revising the political funds control law, which has often been criticized for containing loopholes that enable politicians to generate slush funds.
The LDP has been under heavy scrutiny amid allegations that its biggest faction, formerly headed by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is suspected of having failed to report hundreds of millions of yen in revenue from fundraising parties and accumulated slush funds.
Two former prime ministers, LDP Vice President Taro Aso and Yoshihide Suga, have joined the panel as supreme advisers. While Suga is an unaffiliated veteran lawmaker, Aso is the leader of the LDP's second-largest faction.
Opposition parties have said that voters expect little from a panel that includes politicians who have run LDP factions, adding that the ruling party is unlikely to decide to dissolve them.
Akira Nagatsuma, a former health minister who is now serving as the policy chief of the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, lambasted the LDP for "attempting to tweak the rules without revealing the reality of slush funds."
But Suga, Kishida's predecessor who was in power for around a year, emphasized the need for "concrete responses," telling reporters after the gathering that a decision to "abandon factions" in the LDP would be popular among the public.
Aso did not attend Thursday's meeting as he is visiting the United States.
The panel, meanwhile, plans to invite young entrepreneurs and academics from fields such as law, accounting and politics as outside experts, said LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi, the leader of another influential faction.
Some LDP lawmakers have argued it is necessary to strictly monitor the flow of fundraising party revenues, require payment via bank transfer for party tickets, and toughen penalties on offenders of the political funds control law.
Yet, it is uncertain whether Kishida can drastically reform the political fundraising customs of the LDP's factions amid lingering speculation that he might be forced to step down in the near future, pundits said.
In a bid to mitigate the scandal's impact on his government, Kishida replaced ministers and party executives belonging to the Abe faction in December, including the then chief Cabinet secretary and LDP policy chief.
While sources close to the matter said key members of the Abe faction have been questioned by prosecutors on a voluntary basis, a lawmaker belonging to the group became the first person to be arrested in connection with the allegations earlier this month.
House of Representatives member Yoshitaka Ikeda is accused of having received 48.26 million yen ($331,000) over five years through 2022 from slush funds created by the faction. The former education vice minister has been expelled from the LDP following the arrest.
A smaller faction led by former LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai has also faced similar allegations, with prosecutors questioning the ruling party heavyweight.
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