• Matsuno, Nishimura, Suzuki, Miyashita and Takagi are all members of the faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio plans to remove Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, internal affairs minister Junji Suzuki and agriculture minister Ichiro Miyashita over a high-profile political funds scandal, people familiar with the matter said Monday.

Kishida also plans to replace Tsuyoshi Takagi, parliamentary affairs chief of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, over the scandal in which the LDP’s largest faction allegedly created slush funds by distributing part of the proceeds from fundraising parties to its members, the people said.

Matsuno, Nishimura, Suzuki, Miyashita and Takagi are all members of the faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Kishida is expected to replace some of them, including Matsuno, as early as Thursday, a day after the current parliamentary session ends, and others after the government adopts its fiscal 2024 budget plan on Dec. 22, the people said.

“I’ll take appropriate action at an appropriate time to restore trust in politics and avoid delays in state affairs,” Kishida told the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament.

Matsuno, Takagi and Nishimura each had a spell in charge of practical affairs at the faction as secretary-general. They are suspected of receiving part of fundraising party revenues from the faction and failing to record the amounts in political fund reports. There are strong calls within the LDP for the trio to be held accountable.

The executive team of the LDP’s Upper House members is considering replacing Yasutada Ono as chairman of the chamber’s Cabinet Committee as he allegedly received kickbacks of some 50 million yen from the faction.

Some LDP members are calling for Hiroshige Seko, secretary-general for the LDP in the Upper House, to take responsibility as he is suspected of receiving over 10 million yen in such funds from the faction along with Matsuno and Takagi.

Calls have emerged among some Kishida administration officials for all 15 political appointees from the faction–four ministers, five state ministers and six parliamentary vice ministers–to be replaced. But others are cautious about doing this as some of them deny receiving such funds.

LDP policy chief Koichi Hagiuda signaled the possibility of stepping down over the scandal. If ministers or state ministers resign, his responsibility as the policy chief “would be great. I want to decide my fate by myself,” Hagiuda told reporters.

JIJI Press