It turned out that the chairman of the city council in Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, gave a total of 150,000 yen in cash to five colleagues who belong to the supporters' association of the candidate to support during the previous House of Representatives election.
The chairman said he wanted to pay for gasoline for the supporters' association activities, but he resigned from the chairmanship on the 28th when it was pointed out in the parliament that he might come into contact with the Public Offices Election Act.
It was Representative Tadataka Sato who resigned from the chairman of the Kitakata City Council.
According to his explanation, Representative Sato is in the support group of the Liberal Democratic Party's member of the House of Representatives, Ichiro Kanke, who ran for the Fukushima 4th district in the previous House of Representatives election and was elected by the proportional revival. It means that he gave 150,000 yen in cash to five members of the city council who are colleagues of the supporters' association.
Other lawmakers who knew this pointed out that they might come into contact with the Public Offices Election Act, so on the 26th, they submitted a request to resign from the chairmanship to the parliament, and at an urgent plenary session held on the 28th. It was unanimously recognized.
The member who received the cash returned the full amount.
Regarding the reason for giving cash, Mr. Sato said that it had nothing to do with the election of the House of Representatives. I handed it over to you. "
He added, "I didn't give it if I knew that I would touch the law. I'm confused and regretted because of my lack of awareness. I want to do my best to prevent this from happening in the future." Showed the idea of continuing.