Ex-secretary to former lawmaker with Japan LDP's Aso faction admits to pooling secret funds September 2, 2024 (Mainichi Japan) Japanese version Liberal Democratic Party headquarters is seen in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. (Mainichi/Akihiro Hirata) TOKYO -- A former secretary to a then Diet member has told prosecutors that they had put a portion of revenue from fundraising parties organized by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)'s Aso faction in an account for pooling slush funds for the lawmaker's office, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned. It is the first time that testimony acknowledging the presence of secret funds in the Aso faction, helmed by LDP Vice President Taro Aso, has been confirmed in connection with the LDP's slush funds scandal involving faction fundraisers. Criminal cases were earlier formed against the party's Abe, Nikai and Kishida factions over the money scandal. According to the revelation based on finalized records of a trial
ブランド靴コピー the ex-secretary to Kentaro Sonoura
スーパーコピーバッグ a former House of Representatives member, told the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation unit that they had put 3.8 million yen (approx. $26,000) in an account of Sonoura's office for pooling secret funds after the amount was distributed to the lawmaker in 2017 from the fundraiser income of the then Ikokai, the predecessor to the Shikokai faction led by Aso. Sonoura, who belonged to the Ikokai, was handed a summary order in 2022 to pay a fine for violating the Political Funds Control Act. Clear testimony on 'secret account' In 2017, the Ikokai faction's fundraising party was held on April 12. Neither Sonoura nor the faction mentioned the transfer of the 3.8 million yen in their respective political funding reports for that year, raising the possibility that the faction itself was also involved in the pooling of the secret funds. Under the political funds law, the five-year statute of limitations has already expired for the failure to list the funds in question in the 2017 funding reports. The Mainichi Shimbun requested the Tokyo prosecutors office to disclose the finalized records of the trial. According to the deposition dated Dec. 6, 2022, a former public secretary to Sonoura, who was in charge of managing the entire funds of the lawmaker's office in 2017, told prosecutors that the office had a "secret account" and that they were using it "to accumulate funds that could be used freely in elections and on other occasions without reporting them." The ex-secretary then explained the cash flow of the account in June 2017, two months after the Ikokai party, while showing accounting documents they created and used in the office. Regarding the document's entry stating "Ikokai 38 million yen," the former secretary told prosecutors, "This was an error in writing what should have been 3.8 million yen," adding that it referred to the funds put into the secret account after receiving the money from Ikokai fundraiser revenue as income for Sonoura's office. Another former veteran secretary also told the special investigation unit that they "opened the account to save political fundraiser revenue and other income as slush funds that were not recorded in funding reports." In the accounting documents attached as evidence to this senior ex-secretary's deposition, a situation where the account's balance had increased by 3.7 million yen in June 2017 -- almost the same amount as the funds distributed by the Ikokai fundraiser -- was recorded. 'Aso faction also had quotas and refunds' In the LDP's slush funds scandal, it has emerged that neither the factions nor lawmakers had recorded kickbacks from faction fundraising party revenues to member lawmakers who sold fundraiser tickets exceeding their quotas. The failure to record such funds in and after 2018 became subject to a criminal investigation. During an interview with the Mainichi, the ex-secretary who confessed to making a deposit of 3.8 million yen into the secret account after receiving the funds from the Ikokai acknowledged that there was a system of ticket sales quotas and refunds in the Aso faction in 2017. The ex-secretary told the Mainichi
スーパーコピーブランド時計 "I no longer recall the 3.8 million yen, but I spoke to prosecutors while looking at the (accounting) documents. If the funds were distributed from the (Aso) faction's fundraiser revenue, it must be refunds (from the faction)." Sonoura, meanwhile, responded to a Mainichi inquiry via his attorney, saying
時計スーパーコピー "I know nothing (about the 3.8 million yen)." The Shikokai, the Ikokai's successor, told the Mainichi, "We will refrain from commenting on an inquiry regarding criminal affairs records as we're unaware of their content. We understand that the Ikokai has made income and expenditure reports appropriately based on laws and regulations." In December 2022, the Tokyo prosecutors office's special investigation unit issued a summary indictment against Sonoura and his two former secretaries for violating the political funds law by failing to record a total of some 49 million yen (approx. $340,000) in income and expenditure reports on fundraising parties and other matters from 2018 to 2020 for Sononura's fund-management group and an LDP branch he headed. The lawmaker was handed a summary order for a 1-million-yen ($6
ブランド通販 900) fine and a three-year civil rights suspension, which was later finalized. He left the LDP and resigned as a lawmaker shortly before the summary indictment. (Japanese original by Hiroyuki Oba, Tokyo City News Department) Font Size SML Print Go to The Mainichi Home Page Related Articles Editorial: Ex-LDP lawmaker's resignation is 'politics and money' scandal once again Japan deputy PM's faction holds fundraiser with fall general election in mind Editorial: Japan's revised political funds law a stopgap that mocks public trust Japan's ruling LDP to ban faction fundraisers in wake of slush fund scandal Ex-Japan PM Aso praises Foreign Minister Kamikawa, but says 'I wouldn't call her pretty' Japan Minister Aso asks 'how long' he has to wear masks as pandemic lingers
