Public prosecutors on Thursday raided the offices of House of Representatives lawmaker Manabu Horii of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over allegations that he gave funeral money to voters in his constituency in Hokkaido.
Investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office raided the 52-year-old Lower House member's offices in Tokyo and the Hokkaido city of Noboribetsu for a possible violation of the public offices election law.
Horii, elected from the Lower House's Hokkaido proportional representation bloc, quit the LDP later in the day.
He is suspected of sending his secretary and others to offer condolence money in his name to voters in the Lower House's Hokkaido No. 9 constituency around 2022, people familiar with the matter said.
The total amount of illegal donations could reach hundreds of thousands of yen, the people said.
Horii, a former member of a now-defunct LDP faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, failed to report ¥21.96 million ($140,700) in kickbacks from the faction between 2018 and 2022. He was suspended in April from party executive posts for a year as punishment, and was accused of violating the political funds control law the following month.
Prosecutors believe that the unreported kickbacks may have been used for the funeral money.
Horii's office has declined to comment on the matter.
"It is extremely regrettable that we have reached a situation like this," LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi said in a statement. "I hope Horii fulfills his accountability."
Horii, a former Olympic bronze medalist in speedskating, was first elected to the Lower House in 2012. He said last month that he will not run in the next Lower House election.