An election team for Shinji Ishimaru, who unsuccessfully ran in last year’s Tokyo gubernatorial election, has been accused of paying a company to livestream a campaign event, in violation of the election law.

A university professor and a civic group separately filed a criminal complaint with the Metropolitan Police Department, which were both accepted on Tuesday.

The complaint alleges that Ishimaru's election team paid the company a total of ¥977,350 to livestream a gathering on YouTube that was held on July 5 last year — two days before the election — with the money partly used to cover labor costs.