Japan Press Weekly

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2021 March 24 - 30 [POLITICS]

Drawing curtain over vote-buying scandal following LDP lawmaker's resignation is impermissible

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira, at a press conference in the Diet building on March 23, said, "It is impermissible for the Suga government to draw a curtain over a large-scale vote-buying scandal with the resignation of accused lawmaker from the Diet," regarding the announcement that former Justice Minister Kawai Katsuhiko, who is currently on trial on charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law, will resign from the House of Representatives.

The allegation is that the Liberal Democratic Party provided an extraordinarily large amount of election funds totaling 150 million yen to Kawai's wife Anri who was running for the Upper House election in 2019 and that the Kawais faced trials for vote-buying.

Koike pointed out that 120 million yen of the provided funds had come from government subsidies to the LDP, adding, "The origin of the vote-buying resources should be fully revealed in the Diet."

Koike noted, "A person who was deeply involved in the vote-buying practice became a Justice Minister," and stressed that Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo should be held responsible for having appointed the person who blotted the history of Japan's politics to be a Justice Minister.

Kawai, on the day he stepped down from the Diet, admitted that he had bought votes. Regarding this, Koike said, "Since his resignation after March 15 won't bring about a byelection under the current election system, it is only natural to think that the LDP and Kawai intended to avoid encountering a negative result in the election."

Past related articles:
> PM Suga should not doge responsibility for vote-buying case involving ex-Justice Minister and his wife [January 25, 2021]
> JCP Koike: Dietmembers Kawai Katsuyuki and Anri should take responsibility for vote-buying scandal and resign [August 26, 2020]
> PM Abe should explain to general public about provision of huge amount of funds to Kawai Katsuyuki and Anri [July 9, 2020]
> 2 sitting Dietmembers arrested for vote buying [June 19, 2020]