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Kishida looking to replace all Cabinet members from troubled faction

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is looking to remove all Cabinet members belonging to the largest faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from their posts amid the deepening political funds scandal, sources said Sunday.
Some members of the faction formerly led by the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are suspected of receiving tens of millions of yen in unreported funds from the proceeds of fundraising parties, according to sources.

The faction is suspected of creating slush funds through these money flows, which the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigation squad is investigating. The suspect funds may total hundreds of millions of yen in the five years through 2022.

Among the faction’s senior members, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, former education minister Ryu Shionoya, LDP Diet affairs committee chair Tsuyoshi Takagi, Hiroshige Seko, secretary-general for the LDP in the House of Councilors, LDP policy chief Koichi Hagiuda and industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura are each suspected of receiving about ¥1 million to over ¥10 million over the five years.

Under Japan’s political funds control law, failure to report funds and making false statements are punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to ¥1 million.

Kishida appears to be considering the moves in the hope of mitigating further damage to his already-unpopular administration.

Still, Nishimura said on Sunday that he intends to continue his ministerial role.

“I have not been told anything at this point. I’d like to continue to fulfill the responsibilities,” he said, denying that he would resign. “I am carefully scrutinizing my own political fund balance reports once again. I would like to give a full explanation at the appropriate time,” Nishimura told reporters after a visit to the city of Naka, Ibaraki Prefecture.

LDP factions have as a matter of practice allotted quotas for tickets at such fundraising parties, usually priced at ¥20,000 each. If the number of tickets sold surpassed the targets, the extra funds were traditionally returned to the lawmakers as a type of commission. The extra funds were allegedly neither reported as expenditures nor as payments to the lawmakers, leading critics to argue that it constituted a form of tax evasion.

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