Almost every day it seems another politician is making headlines over a money scandal. Four members of embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet — administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata, and farm ministers Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Norihiko Akagi and Takehiko Endo — have been forced from their positions by revelations of misuse of political funds. Matsuoka even took his own life.
In response, the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition passed a revision of the Political Funds Control Law in June to tighten regulations. But the move appears to have had little real effect.
Following are some facts about the political funds law and its apparent shortcomings:
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