The ruling coalition has drafted a bill designed to stiffen political penalties against lawmakers who abuse their government connections to receive bribes.
The bill, a copy of which has been made available to Kyodo News, extends the scope of political bribery by making it a criminal offense for politicians to influence civil servants on behalf of a specific party for private gains.
The proposed legislation, drawn up by the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, stipulates that politicians convicted and jailed for selling government favors will be stripped of their voting rights as well as their rights to run for office.