Manabu Horii, who quit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in July amid allegations of an election law violation, announced his resignation as a House of Representatives lawmaker on Wednesday.
"I've ended up trampling on the trust placed on me by each vote, entirely due to my lack of law-abiding spirit. So I decided to quit," the 52-year-old said in a statement.
He is expected to submit his resignation to the lower chamber of the country's parliament soon.
In July, the Tokyo prosecutor's office searched Horii's office and home on suspicions of him providing condolence money under his name and other things to voters in his constituency through his secretary around 2022.
The public offices election law basically prohibits lawmakers from making offerings to voters in their constituencies, except in cases such as when lawmakers themselves offer condolence money at funerals and wakes.
Horii, a former speed skater who won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, was first elected to the Lower House in 2012. He has since served as parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs and state minister of the Cabinet Office.
In the LDP, Horii belonged to a faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The faction was at the center of a high-profile slush fund scandal, in which he failed to report a total of ¥21.96 million in political funds between 2018 and 2022.
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