Ex-Lawmaker Ono Found Partly Not Guilty over Slush Funds Scandal

Tokyo, June 23 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo District Court on Tuesday found former Japanese lawmaker Yasutada Ono not guilty of part of his alleged failure to report some political funds in a high-profile slush funds scandal involving factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Presiding Judge Yasushi Fuke handed down a fine of 600,000 yen to the former member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, and a fine of 200,000 yen to Ono’s former policy secretary, Yoshiko Iwata. Prosecutors had demanded a fine of 1.5 million yen for Ono, 67, and 500,000 yen for Iwata, 62, while the defense side had argued that they were not guilty, saying that the unreported funds were deposits. A total of 12 people, including four former lawmakers, have been charged in the slush funds scandal. It is the first time that a ruling has been issued in a trial for a former lawmaker over the matter. Ono was suspected of failing to report some 51 million yen in kickbacks from fundraising party ticket sales revenues in his political funds reports over five years in violation of the political funds control law. The trial centered on whether the kickbacks from revenues exceeding the ticket sales quota set by the now-defunct LDP faction to which Ono belonged could be considered donations to Ono’s fund management organization called “Taishikai.” Fuke said the kickbacks amounted to donations as the faction, once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, never explained that the funds were deposits and as the Ono side did not manage the money separately from other funds. “(Ono) was aware, through willful negligence, that the kickbacks were revenues generated in excess of the quota,” he said. Meanwhile, the judge said the possibility cannot be ruled out that Ono was not aware of his obligation to report the funds from 2018 to 2021 and acquitted him for the four years, saying, “A reasonable doubt remains over prosecutors’ claims.” However, Fuke found Ono guilty for failing to report such funds in 2022, when kickbacks were resumed after a brief suspension, as he had itemized the money as income from lawmaker-hosted study sessions and other sources. “He violated the political funds control law’s aim to ensure fairness in politics and therefore shoulders a heavy responsibility,” the judge said. According to the ruling, Ono and Iwata did not record some 11.2 million yen that was kicked back from the former Abe faction in Taishikai’s political funds report in 2022, in conspiracy with the secretary responsible for the lawmaker’s accounting records. Hiroshi Ichikawa, deputy chief of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, said, “We will respond appropriately after carefully examining the ruling.” In the slush funds scandal, guilty rulings or summary orders have been finalized for eight individuals, including the former chief accountants of LDP factions. The first court hearing for the trial of Yoshitaka Ikeda, 60, a former member of the House of Representatives, the lower parliamentary chamber, who allegedly failed to report some 48 million yen in similar kickbacks, has yet to be scheduled. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]