Despite mounting public pressure for Kenshiro Matsunami to resign from the House of Representatives, the New Conservative Party decided Monday it would only prevent him from holding any party posts.
The 56-year-old lawmaker admitted last week that he received 2.75 million yen in illicit donations from a yakuza-affiliated construction company between 1997 and 1998.
"As (Matsunami) himself offered to do, we have decided to have him refrain from taking any post in the party (as a move to clarify his responsibility for the matter)," NCP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai said.