Japan Press Weekly

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2024 June 5 - 11 [POLITICS]

With 2 billion yen in donations to LDP, construction industry receives 27 trillion yen in public work contracts

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Yamazoe Taku on June 10 pointed to the fact that the construction sector, with two billion yen in political donations to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, won public work contracts amounting to 27 trillion yen. He demanded that all forms of political donations from corporations and other interest groups be prohibited.

At a House of Councilors Audit Committee meeting on the day, Yamazoe made this public based on internal documents of the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors (JFCC) that the Sunday Akahata obtained.

According to Yamazoe, based on the donation request by the LDP’s political fund management body "People’s Political Association", the JFCC decides on the amount that its member companies are to provide. Under this structure, JFCC member companies for the past decade made a total of more than two billion yen in political donations to the LDP. During the same period, those companies received public work contracts worth 27 trillion yen.

Yamazoe said that political donations from businesses and other interest groups are obviously used to buy or influence policies. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in response claimed that political contributions from specific organizations have no impact on the government policymaking process.

Past related article:
> LDP rejects opposition parties’ demand to ban corporate donations [ May 30, 2024]