Policy chiefs of the ruling alliance agreed March 31 to submit a bill to the Diet next week to have the government abandon its claim of about 460 million yen against Aum Shinrikyo to give other victims suing the cult a better chance of obtaining greater amounts of repayment or redress.
The three ruling parties that sponsor the bill hope to have it pass the legislature by the end of the current Diet session, which ends in June. Under the Fiscal Law, the state cannot voluntarily renounce a financial claim once it has been registered.
If the government relinquishes its claim on the cult, which was declared bankrupt, it is estimated that the many victims of a variety of crimes for which Aum members are now on trial will be able to receive more than 20 percent of what they are seeking in monetary redress, up from an estimated 16 percent.