Tag - political-funds

 
 

POLITICAL FUNDS

Prosecutors raid the office of the Liberal Democratic Party's Abe faction in Tokyo on Dec. 19. The decision to not indict the faction leaders comes after all underwent voluntary questioning by the special investigation department of the Tokyo prosecutor’s office.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2024
Abe faction's seven senior members won't be prosecuted, reports say
Proving a criminal conspiracy between them and the group's treasurer to not report excess income from fundraising parties has been deemed too difficult by investigators.
Journalists gather in front of lawmaker Yoshitaka Ikeda's office in Nagoya on Sunday after he was arrested in connection to a political funds scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2024
Arrested lawmaker Ikeda allegedly ordered disposal of fundraising data
Tokyo prosecutors suspect that ex-LDP member Yoshitaka Ikeda led the destruction of evidence related to alleged slush funds.
Officials of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad prepare to search the office of House of Representatives lawmaker Yoshitaka Ikeda in his constituency in Nagoya on Dec. 27.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 8, 2024
Storage media from offices of arrested LDP lawmaker were found damaged
Prosecutors believe that Yoshitaka Ikeda or his staff damaged the storage media in an attempt to destroy evidence.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida makes a toast with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a Japan-ASEAN luncheon meeting at the Japan Business Federation in Tokyo on Dec. 18. Kishida’s chance of reelection in the LDP presidential race in September will largely depend on his administration’s response to the current funding scandal and its entanglement in it.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2023
Scandal, economic policy and LDP race to weigh on Kishida in 2024
How he balances all three will determine whether he keeps his job as LDP party president and, by extension, prime minister.
Tokyo prosecutors raid lawmaker Yasutada Ono's local office in the city of Hashima, Gifu Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 29, 2023
LDP lawmaker's local office raided over funds scandal
The special squad of the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office raided lawmaker Yasutada Ono's local office in the city of Hashima, Gifu Prefecture.
Reporters gather in front of the Upper House parliamentary building on Thursday in Tokyo. Prosecutors raided LDP lawmaker Yasutada Ono's office, which is located in the building, the same day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2023
Second LDP member’s office raided over political funds scandal
Upper House member Yasutada Ono became the second lawmaker to have his offices searched by prosecutors in connection with the scandal.
Tokyo prosecutors raid lawmaker Yoshitaka Ikeda's office in Nagoya on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
Prosecutors raid LDP lawmaker's home and offices over unreported funds
Prosecutors entered Yoshitaka Ikeda's Tokyo and Nagoya offices on suspicion that he violated the Political Funds Control Law.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends the 10th trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 26.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 27, 2023
It's time to consider a woman to take Japan's top job
Is a controversial call for Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa to become the LDP's first female prime minister a Hail Mary or a masterstroke?
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gives a speech in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
Kishida vows to improve political funds transparency
As president of the LDP, Kishida has unveiled a plan to establish a new intraparty organization early next year to discuss political and party reforms.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi took office on Dec. 14 after his predecessor quit over a political funds scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi vows to tackle distrust
Hayashi, who took office after his predecessor quit over a funding scandal, says revising the relevant law is related to freedom of political activity.
Koichi Hagiuda (left), the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s former policy chief, has been questioned by Tokyo prosecutors over a political funds scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2023
Prosecutors question former LDP policy chief over funds scandal
Koichi Hagiuda has become the latest veteran lawmaker to be questioned on a voluntary basis over the political funds scandal.
Investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrive to search the headquarters of the powerful Abe faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 26, 2023
Has the funding scandal doomed the Abe faction?
With criminal investigations under way, there is impetus for the younger generation of the Abe faction members to break away and form a rebranded group.
A Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office vehicle exits the building housing the office of a political faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Dec. 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2023
LDP's top faction withdrew decision to abolish kickbacks
A special squad suspects that senior faction officials knew of the apparent mechanism of the kickbacks and attempted to correct the situation.
Unlike his immediate predecessor, new Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has chosen to speak in words of his own for some matters.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2023
Hayashi maneuvers through his new Cabinet position carefully
Hayashi has served in many Cabinet posts in the past, including defense minister, agriculture minister and education minister.
The faction led by former LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai is the second group within the party that has allegedly listed kickbacks given to its members after they sold fundraising tickets, informed sources revealed Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 24, 2023
Embattled LDP's Nikai faction also suspected of logging kickbacks
The faction is suspected of not reporting excess fundraiser revenues as income but reporting the kickbacks as expenditures.
A meeting is held at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Friday to officially replace two of the party's executives.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 22, 2023
In search for top officials, Kishida constrained by funds scandal
The limited number of viable candidates not suspected of misconduct means new appointees look more likely to be stopgap replacements.
Former education minister Kisaburo Tokai, who has been tapped as Liberal Democratic Party policy chief, speaks to reporters Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 21, 2023
Kishida makes more LDP leadership changes in bid to restore trust
The changes come a week after he dismissed four key members of his Cabinet who were also Abe faction members suspected of receiving unreported funds.
A Mainichi poll this week gave Fumio Kishida's Cabinet a nearly 80% disapproval rate, the worst result since the newspaper began surveying in 1947.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2023
No, seriously, this is one Japan scandal that’s important
With no clear rival, and potential challengers likely reluctant to take their shot with support so low, Kishida may yet hang on in the near term.
Police officers stand guard outside the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 14. The ruling party is currently trying to contain a funding scandal that threatens the future of the Kishida administration. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2023
'Strategic Communication' is a missing link in Japan's crisis management
From gaffes to governance, lessons in "strategic communications" for Japanese politicians.
Senior members of the Abe faction, the largest in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, attend a fundraising event in Tokyo on May 16.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 19, 2023
LDP's Abe faction faces possible collapse under weight of scandal
Its fractured leadership and an expected exodus of members amid an unfolding political funds scandal has put its future in question.

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