Campaign Treasurer of Japan’s Hayashi Accused of Bribery

Hiroshima, Dec. 2 (Jiji Press)–A criminal complaint has been submitted against Japanese internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s campaign treasurer for alleged bribing of campaign staff during the October 2024 House of Representatives election. The complaint was lodged Monday with the Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office by Hiroshi Kamiwaki, professor at Kobe Gakuin University, claiming a violation of the public offices election law. Kamiwaki said that between Oct. 15 and 29 last year, the campaign team of Hayashi, representing the Lower House’s No. 3 constituency of Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, paid a total of 181,000 yen to 10 campaign staff members who were not permitted to receive compensation. The payments were disguised as “labor costs” for tasks such as poster maintenance. The complaint also alleged that the group forged receipts for five individuals who neither performed any work nor received payment and made false statements in campaign financial reports. “There is a high possibility of a large-scale bribery case, and what the accusation covers is only the tip of the iceberg,” Kamiwaki said in the complaint. He added that the money not actually paid was converted into a slush fund, demanding an investigation to uncover the truth. The financial problem was first reported by the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine last month. Hayashi explained that the expenditure “has no problem under the public offices election law.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]