The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former treasurer of a now-defunct faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for underreporting political funds totaling ¥670 million between 2018 and 2022.
Junichiro Matsumoto — the treasurer of what was then the party’s largest faction, which the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had led — was found guilty in a case tied to a major political funds scandal that the LDP has been mired in since late last year.
With Matsumoto being found guilty and Shigeru Ishiba, who has been critical of the conduct that led to the funding scandal, being elected as the new LDP president on Friday, the party may be hoping it can clean up its image and look ahead to a looming general election.
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