Ex-Lawmaker Kameoka Pleads Not Guilty over Cash Distribution

Fukushima, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)–Former Japanese lawmaker Yoshitami Kameoka pleaded not guilty Friday over his alleged distribution of cash to voters just before the official campaign period for the October 2024 House of Representatives election. “It’s not me who donated the money. It had nothing to do with the Lower House election at all,” the 70-year-old former member of the parliamentary chamber said in his first court hearing at Fukushima District Court. According to the indictment and other information, then Lower House member Kameoka violated the public offices election law by distributing 250,000 yen in cash as participation fees to people related to 27 organizations that took part in six festivals held in the northeastern cities of Fukushima and Nihonmatsu, both Fukushima Prefecture, around between Oct. 3 and 13, 2024, before the campaign period began on Oct. 15. Both cities were within his constituency. His case was sent to public prosecutors in December last year. He was indicted without arrest in March this year. Kameoka, elected to the Lower House for the first time in 2005, served in such posts as state minister for postdisaster reconstruction. He lost his Lower House seat in the 2024 election. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]