2024-01-28 21:00:00
Income and expenditure report for 2022 of the six LDP factions.For the Abe faction, Nikai faction, and Kishida faction, the name of the representative and the name of the accounting officer are the same person.
In the LDP faction’s political funds party slush fund scandal, three of the six LDP factions, Abe, Kishida, and Nikai, who were indicted for violating the Political Funds Control Act, all have their accountants listed in the representative column of their political funds income and expenditure report. It contained the name of. The three factions that were not prosecuted, Aso, Mogi, and Moriyama, all list the names of Liberal Democratic Party officials who serve as faction chairs. Responses differ between factions. (Haruka Osugi)
◆Kishida faction: “It’s been like that since the time of my predecessor.”
In the representative column of the Abe faction’s income and expenditure report for 2022, there was “Junichiro Matsumoto.” The accountant was indicted at home on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Act (false entry) by failing to record the amount of party income that was repatriated to members of the party. Similarly, the Nikai faction, which did not record repatriated funds, and the Kishida faction, which did not record party income, etc., also had the name of the accounting officer listed in the representative column.
(From left) Nikai faction chairman Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has left the Kishida faction, and House of Representatives member Ritsu Shioya, Abe faction chairman.
A person in charge of Kishida’s faction does not seem to be concerned, saying, “This has been the case since the previous accounting director, so we just followed suit.We have never received any particular criticism.” This is because, under the Political Funds Control Act, there are no detailed regulations regarding the contents of the representative column or accounting officer column on the income and expenditure report.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, it is sufficient to include the name that was submitted at the time of establishment of the political organization, etc., and “We do not check whether the representative is the actual representative,” said a person in charge.
◆It may not be a problem according to the rules, but does it reflect the reality?
There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the rules, but the fact that the representative of a faction is an accounting officer who is not a member of the Diet is far from reality. Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, pointed out at a press conference, “If you think regarding it using common sense, I think it would be strange if he wasn’t the chairman or secretary general of that faction.” He criticizes the government, saying, “Even if you take this one thing away, you can’t see that they are serious regarding following the law.”
On the other hand, in the representative column of the income and expenditure report of the three factions that were not prosecuted, Aso, Mogi, and Moriyama, the names of the members of the Diet who were the chairmen were “Taro Aso,” “Toshimitsu Mogi,” and “Hiroshi Moriyama.” It was a description that corresponded to the actual situation of the faction.
(From left) Deputy President Taro Aso, chairman of the Aso faction, Toshimitsu Mogi, secretary general, chairman of the Motegi faction, and Hiroshi Moriyama, chairman of the Moriyama faction
It can be said that the difference in response occurred because the rules regarding the contents of the representative column were ambiguous, but what should be the situation?
A person in charge of the Motegi faction said, “I think what should be written in the representative column is the name of the secretary general, who is in charge of the faction’s affairs.” In the current Diet session, it is expected that there will be discussion regarding the introduction of a “coincidence system,” which would extend penalties for failure to include income and expenditure reports not only to accounting officers but also to members of the Diet. Clarifying the responsibilities of members of the Diet with the aim of ensuring accurate information in the income and expenditure report is likely to be the key to ensuring that the information in the representative column is more in line with the actual situation.
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