LDP’s Shimomura Asked for Kickback Restart: Ex-Accountant

Tokyo, Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)–Hakubun Shimomura, former policy chief of the Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party, asked to resume the practice of kicking back part of fundraising party revenues to faction members, a former chief accountant of a now-defunct LDP faction has said. Junichiro Matsumoto, who has already been found guilty over the high-profile political funds scandal involving the LDP faction previously led by the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, made the testimony during Thursday’s hearing at Tokyo District Court in the trial of former House of Councillors lawmaker Yasutada Ono and a secretary. The faction decided in April 2022 to stop the kickback system. The practice, however, was revived in August the same year, following a meeting of senior faction members held after Abe’s death. Matsumoto previously testified at his own trial and at a hearing of the House of Representatives Budget Committee that “a senior (faction) official” had asked for the practice to be resumed, but did not disclose the official’s name. When asked during Thursday’s hearing whether Shimomura was the senior official who suggested that Abe had agreed to resume the practice, Matsumoto said, “Yes.” Matsumoto also affirmed that Shimomura had said that the kickbacks should be provided to former Lower House lawmaker Yoshitaka Ikeda, and that the move had been approved by Abe. When asked whether Shimomura had suggested during the August 2022 meeting of senior Abe faction officials that the practice be resumed, Matsumoto said, “(Shimomura) asked that the money be funneled back (to Ikeda), so I would say that (Shimomura had) requested a restart.” Ikeda and his secretary were arrested and indicted last year for allegedly failing to record 48 million yen in political funds reports. Shimomura explained at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting in May this year that “one of the faction members” had asked that the kickback system be brought back. He said that the matter was reported to both Abe and Matsumoto in and after June 2022. Shimomura also said that he reported the matter again to Matsumoto over the phone in July the same year. He denied, however, that he had requested the practice’s resumption. On Thursday, Matsumoto also said that “there were quite a few” lawmakers asking for the kickbacks. He also said, “I feel that (Ono) was among them.” According to the indictment, Ono and his former secretary failed to include some 51 million yen in funds kicked back from the LDP faction in his fund management organization’s political funds reports for 2018-2022. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]