TOKYO: Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary MATSUNO Hirokazu is suspected of receiving more than 10 million yen in slush funds in the five years through 2022 from a faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, people familiar with the matter said Friday.

Matsuno, a member of the LDP’s largest faction, allegedly received the money as kickbacks out of the group’s revenues from fundraising parties without reporting them in his political funding statements, the people said.

Matsuno declined to discuss the allegation at a press conference. “I wouldn’t answer questions” about the matter as the faction’s funding scandal is under investigation by law-enforcement authorities, he said.

At a parliamentary committee meeting, Matsuno said he has no intention to step down as chief cabinet secretary over the allegation. “I’d like to continue to fulfill my responsibility with a sense of tension,” he said.

Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio on Friday vowed to regain trust over the kickback scandal regarding fundraising parties rocking factions of his ruling LDP.

“I will do more to regain trust,” he told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament.

On his recent instructions for LDP factions to refrain from holding fundraising parties for the time being, Kishida said, “We need to deal with the problem with a strong sense of crisis as an issue for the entire party.”

The LDP faction has set quotas for ticket sales over fundraising parties based on the positions of member lawmakers and the number of times they have been elected, and has continued to funnel the excess amount to them, people familiar with the matter said.

The excess amount has allegedly not been recorded in the political funds reports of the faction or its member lawmakers and has been used as slush funds. Such funds allegedly totaled over 100 million yen over the five years through 2022.

Matsuno has been elected to parliament eight times. He became chief cabinet secretary in October 2021 when Prime Minister Kishida took office. Matsuno served as secretary-general of the faction in 2019-2021.

False political funding reports in Japan can be punishable with an imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 1 million yen.

JIJI Press