House of Representatives lawmaker Manabu Horii told public prosecutors that he knew offering condolence money to voters at funerals he didn't attend was illegal, informed sources said Monday.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office questioned Horii on a voluntary basis over funeral money allegedly given to voters in his constituency.
On Thursday, the prosecutors raided Horii's offices in Tokyo and Hokkaido as well as his home, on suspicion of violating the public offices election law. The 52-year-old lawmaker, elected from the Lower House's Hokkaido proportional representation bloc, quit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on the same day.
A former secretary to Horii was also questioned voluntarily.
Horii 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 in violation of the public offices election law, with the total amount of illegal donations seen reaching hundreds of thousands of yen.
Horii, who used to belong to a now-defunct LDP faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, failed to report in political funds statements ¥21.96 million in kickbacks the faction paid to him by using revenues from fundraising parties between 2018 and 2022. He was suspended in April from LDP executive posts for a year as punishment, and was accused of violating the political funds control law the following month.
As Horii explained in January that he used unreported kickbacks from the faction as funds to operate his offices and expenses for socializing with his supporters, the prosecutor's office suspects that the kickbacks were used for the funeral money.
The public offices election law prohibits politicians from giving donations to voters in their electoral districts, except in cases where politicians offer condolence money at funerals attended by themselves.