Defense Minister corrected political funds report after taking office

   Akahata has learned that Defense Minister Komura Masahiko made a correction to his 2005 political funds report on August 29, two days after taking office.

   The fact that cabinet members continue to correct their funds reports even after the cabinet reshuffle shows that there is no way for the Abe cabinet to get away from corruption scandals.

   The Liberal Democratic Party Yamaguchi Prefecture 1st Electoral District Branch headed by Komura reported that it had made donations of nine million yen to Komura himself. The branch, however, corrected the report by changing the item from “donation” to “activity expenses” without disclosing how the money was used.

   Komura said this was just a “paperwork mistake.”

   The Political Funds Control Law prohibits anyone, except for political parties, from making donations to individual politicians.

   “‘Political parties’ in the law generally means party headquarters, not party branches. Mr. Komura in a great hurry changed the item into ‘activity expenses.” I think that he did this to obscure where the money has gone,” said lawyer Sakaguchi Tokuo, co-representative of a group “Political Funds Ombudsman.”

- Akahata, September 5, 2007