Lawmakers Wednesday postponed revising the Political Funds Control Law, having failed to agree on how to curb the money politics problem despite a recent donation concealment involving the largest faction of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The ruling and opposition camps gave up trying to reach an accord during the ongoing extraordinary Diet session through Dec. 3 and decided to address the issue again during the regular session to start in January, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.
The move came as the faction's former treasurer, Toshiyuki Takigawa, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of failing to declare a 100 million yen donation from a dental lobby in a high-profile case that has implicated top LDP politicians.
Despite the postponement, Hosoda, the top government spokesman, sought tighter legal controls on political funds, while LDP Deputy Secretary General Shinzo Abe said the party will try to prevent further misdeeds by tightening internal rules.
"It is desirable that some sort of stronger regulations be realized," Hosoda told a news conference. "We will have to address the issue of money and politics as a legal problem."
Abe told a separate news conference, "The party will try to tighten our internal rules and make more thorough efforts so that political funds are dealt with appropriately and transparently."