07:35
Japan: The LDP party financing scandal spreads
The scandal in Japan surrounding the undeclared financing of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the head of the ruling coalition, which affects more and more members of the executive branch, is spreading like wildfire. According to local media, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is preparing to replace up to five senior administration officials who will join the conservative front's most powerful faction, coinciding with the end of the Diet (parliament in Tokyo) session next Wednesday former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July 2022.
Investigative sources believe that most of its nearly 100 members failed to make subsidy payments to the party in violation of electoral law. Senior officials under scrutiny include Chief Cabinet Secretary, considered the prime minister's right-hand man, Hirokazu Matsuno; the Secretary General of the Upper House, Hiroshige Seko; LDP reform chief Koichi Hagiuda and Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura. Over the weekend, Kishida met with numerous party representatives and, according to public broadcaster NHK, different solutions are being examined with the participation of individual politicians due to contradictory opinions within the government and the party itself.
One of the proposals Kishida is considering, Jiji Agency reports, is to fire all 15 senior administration officials belonging to the faction affected by the scandal. Sharp criticism came from the main opposition movement, the Constitutional Democratic Party, which pointed out that none of the lawmakers implicated in the scandal explained how the unreported funds were used.