November 30, 2019

The Liberal Democratic Party in 2018 collected nearly 2.5 billion yen in donations from corporations, a record-high since Prime Minister Abe Shinzo assumed office in 2012, while receiving 17.5 billion yen in state subsidies funded by taxpayers’ money.

In the 2018 political funds report which the Internal Affairs Ministry published on November 29, the LDP’s political fund management organization accepted 2.87 billion yen, up 58 million yen from a year earlier, in donations from corporations and industrial organizations. Of the 2.87 billion yen, 2.4 billion yen went to the coffers of the LDP.

The number of companies that made donations of 10 million yen or more to the LDP stood at 66, down one from the previous year, and 1,257 companies and organizations, whose names are required to be listed in the LDP political fund reports, donated 50,000 yen or more.