The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan is currently embroiled in a political funds scandal, with recent developments highlighting the complexity and depth of the issue. Despite testimony from three members of a faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who died in 2022, the details behind the group's decision to continue a kickback scheme remain unclear. The Tokyo District Court has sentenced Mito Kakizawa, a former LDP lawmaker, to a two-year prison term, suspended for five years, for illegal campaign finance activities related to a Tokyo ward election in April last year. This scandal, stemming from structural flaws in Japan's political finance system, operates within a legal gray zone. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces the challenge of addressing the slush funds scandal within his party, as ethics committee hearings in parliament bring the issue to the forefront. Additionally, former LDP policy chief Hakubun Shimomura's upcoming testimony could pressure Yoshiro Mori, another former Prime Minister, to disclose his knowledge of the scandal.
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All eyes are on former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hakubun Shimomura as he prepares to give voluntary testimony to a Lower House political ethics committee Monday on how his faction approved unreported kickbacks to its members. https://t.co/5dOjwDhNNK
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The scandal stems from structural flaws allowing Japanese political finance to operate in a legal gray zone. https://t.co/2R0P8Qy7yw
Former LDP policy chief Hakubun Shimomura's upcoming testimony to a Lower House ethics committee could pressure former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori into disclosing what he knows about the political funds scandal that the party finds itself embroiled in. https://t.co/st0F8dEBXk
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In the wake of ethics committee hearings in parliament over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's slush funds scandal, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida now faces a politically tougher problem: how to punish party members who were involved. https://t.co/dKWk6URIjP
EDITORIAL: Upper house political ethics council / If politicians keep asserting that they do not know, then speaking to the accounting staff who managed the funds might help clarify the situation. https://t.co/j68JkUzf5o https://t.co/prQptkPc60
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How can Kishida punish lawmakers involved in the slush funds scandal? https://t.co/Jds16uPYXs
The scandal stems from structural flaws allowing Japanese political finance to operate in a legal gray zone https://t.co/2R0P8Qy7yw
Tokyo District Court has sentenced former ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Mito Kakizawa to two years in prison, suspended for five years, for an illegal campaign finance offense related to a Tokyo ward election in April last year. https://t.co/kqOeps3TTM
Despite the testimony of three members of the faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the circumstances behind the group's decision to continue a kickback scheme after his death in 2022 remain opaque. https://t.co/1zLMXH5ajY