Ex-Lawmaker Ishii Indicted without Arrest over Fraud

Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)–The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has indicted without arrest former lawmaker Akira Ishii for alleged fraud involving state-paid salaries of a secretary, sources said Tuesday. Ishii, a former member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, conspired with office staff and defrauded the state of 8.28 million yen between May 2021 and October 2022 by registering as a public secretary a male relative working for a social welfare service corporation headed by Ishii, according to the indictment. He submitted to the Upper House’s secretariat a fictitious document saying that he hired the relative as his second public secretary, the indictment also said. Speaking voluntarily to investigators, the relative said he was not working as a state-paid secretary. The staff of Ishii’s office apparently managed the salaries paid to his bank account and used the money to cover expenses. Ishii, 68, has been expelled from opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) over the scandal. The prosecutors office raided Ishii’s office in Toride in the eastern prefecture of Ibaraki, his office in the Upper House lawmaker’s building in Tokyo and other related locations on Aug. 27. On Aug. 29, Ishii announced his resignation as a lawmaker, promising to fully cooperate with the investigation. His resignation was approved by the Upper House on Sept. 1. After serving as a Toride assembly member, Ishii was elected to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, in 2009 from the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan. In the 2016 Upper House election, he ran from then Osaka Ishin no Kai. He quit during his second term. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]