TOKYO: Former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai, who has been indicted on charges of buying votes, handed out part of the money to a secretary to former financial services minister Shizuka Kamei, informed sources told Jiji Press on July 10. 

The secretary received a total of 3 million yen from Kawai on two occasions before the House of Councillors election in summer last year, the sources said.

Of the sum, 1 million yen was given on May 31, 2019, and 2 million yen was provided on July 3 that year, the sources said.

Kawai has been charged with providing 29 million yen to 100 people, including local assembly members, between March and August last year to buy votes for his wife, Anri, in the Upper House election.

The secretary to Kamei received the most among the 100 people, the sources said.

Anri won a seat in the Upper House in the 2019 race from the Hiroshima prefectural constituency. She has also been indicted on charges of conspiring with her husband in the vote-buying scandal.

Kamei was once a member of the House of Representatives from a Hiroshima constituency. He did not run in the 2017 Lower House election and retired from politics.

Katsuyuki is a Lower House member. The Kawais quit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after the campaign scandal came to light.

JIJI Press