Tokyo: Public prosecutors have questioned former internal affairs minister Minoru Terada on a voluntary basis over his alleged illegal payments to campaign workers under the public offices election law, informed sources said.

A criminal complaint on the matter was filed by Kobe Gakuin University Prof. Hiroshi Kamiwaki and others last year.

According to the complaint, Terada and a person in charge of accounts for his campaign for the 2021 House of Representatives election are suspected of paying a total of 68,100 yen to 11 campaign staff, including a local city assembly member in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, on Oct. 19, 2021, in the name of compensation.

The city assembly member and others were questioned last month by the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

In November last year, Terada was effectively sacked as internal affairs minister after being grilled in the Diet over a financial statement submitted by a political group linked to him.

JIJI Press