Japan Press Weekly

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2021 December 1 - 7 [POLITICS]

Major defense contractors donate 200 million yen in total to LDP

Military companies which occupy a large share in supplying military equipment such as escort ships and submarines to the Defense Ministry in 2020 made donations totaling more than 200 million yen to the Liberal Democratic Party’s political fund management body People’s Political Association behind the ballooning military budget which exceeds six trillion yen in FY2021. This was shown in an Akahata survey.

Using data of the Defense Ministry’s external bureau responsible for defense equipment and the LDP’s political funds report released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Akahata calculated the amount of donations to the People’s Political Association from the top 20 companies which made profits on deals with the Defense Ministry in 2020.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which ranked at the top in terms of the contract value, donated 30 million yen to the People’s Political Association, the largest among the 20 firms. The company in 2020 received from the ministry contracts for escort ships, patrol helicopters, and other military supplies, which made up 18.1% of government procurement contracts worth 1.7 trillion yen.

Fourth-ranking defense contractor Mitsubishi Electric made a donation of 20 million yen. The firm obtained contracts to supply military equipment including medium-range surface-to-air missiles and a network electronic warfare system, accounting for 4.7% of the government purchase.

Itochu Corporation donated 28 million yen as its two subsidiaries signed various supply deals with the Defense Ministry.

The 20 corporations combined gave more than 200 million yen in donations to the LDP and their share in government procurement reached 52%.