The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a ruling coalition-sponsored bill that puts an annual 50 million yen cap on party donations made by political groups and voted down a bill from the Democratic Party of Japan that set the cap at 30 million yen.
The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, which sponsored the amendments to the Political Funds Control Law, wants the House of Councilors to vote on its bill by the end of the Diet session Nov. 1.
The winning bill says the fund management bodies of political parties' must use bank remittances when receiving and making donations in order to increase the parties' financial transparency.
The ruling camp and the DPJ submitted similar bills in the last Diet session, but both were scrapped when the House of Representatives was dissolved in August.
The Diet began discussing lower donation caps after it was discovered the LDP's largest faction, led at the time by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, concealed a 100 million yen donation from a dental lobby.
The law currently bans individual politicians from receiving money from businesses and organizations but puts no limit on transactions between so-called political groups set up by both sides.
In the LDP scandal, Toshiyuki Takigawa, treasurer of the faction, was convicted for his role in hiding the 100 million yen donation from the Japan Dental Association, and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka is currently on trial.