The House of Councilors held a political ethics review committee on the 14th in response to the issue surrounding the political funding party of a faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, and former House of Councilors Secretary-General Seko Seko of Abe's faction, Masashi Nishida, and former Olympic and Paralympic Affairs Minister Hashimoto attended. To do.
This is the focus of the House of Councilors Political Ethics Review Committee.
[Point of note 1] The full kickback for the year of the House of Councilors election was
At least for political fund parties held in 2019 and 2022, when the House of Councilors elections were held, Abe's faction does not set a sales quota for party tickets to members of the House of Councilors who are up for re-election, and instead kicks back all of the collected proceeds. This is known through interviews with those involved.
Regarding this use, opposition parties have pointed out that the funds may have been used for election activities, and one of the focuses is on what kind of explanations the members attending the committee will give.
《Point of note 2》 How did the kickback continue?
The second focus is on how the kickbacks to members of the faction began, which were not revealed at the House of Representatives' Committee on Political Ethics, and on how Abe, the former prime minister, allegedly directed the kickbacks to the members. Why did the kickback continue?
Former House of Councilors Secretary-General Seko Seko, who was a senior member of the Abe faction, is scheduled to attend the review committee.
At a meeting held in April last year, Seko was said to have been instructed by Abe, the faction chairman at the time, to stop giving kickbacks to members of the Diet. Leaders of the faction, except for Abe, who died in the shooting incident, gathered together. Mr. Nishimura and Mr. Shioya stated at the House of Representatives Committee on Political Ethics that they attended both meetings held in August of 2019, when the continuation of kickbacks is said to have been discussed.
It will be interesting to see what Mr. Seko will say about the decision-making process within the faction, which the opposition parties have pointed out as ``discrepancies'' in the explanations given by Abe faction leaders at the House of Representatives panel. .
“Undocumented contents” of the three participants
Hiroshige Seko, former Secretary-General of the House of Councilors
Former House of Councilors Secretary-General Hiroshige Seko, who was one of the Abe faction's so-called ``Five People'' and a member of the faction's decision-making standing committee, said in a survey conducted by the Liberal Democratic Party that he was one of the members of the Abe faction's ``Five People'' and was a member of the faction's decision-making standing committee. It is said that there was a total of 15.42 million yen in undisclosed amounts for the year, and the breakdown by year is 1.02 million yen in 2018, 6.04 million yen in 2019, 3.6 million yen in 2020, and 4.76 million yen in 2021. It is a yen.
On February 29th, he was accused of failing to record a total of 8.36 million yen in income from factions in the 2020 and 2021 political funds income and expenditure report of the political group "Kiseikai" of which he is the representative. is being corrected.
Additionally, expenses such as ``gift expenses'' and ``accommodation expenses'' were newly listed, but the total amount and some of the details were ``unknown.''
At a press conference in January, Seko said, ``I left the management of political funds to my secretary.''
Representative Shoji Nishida
In addition, Abe faction lawmaker Shoji Nishida said that in a survey conducted by the Liberal Democratic Party, there was a total of 4.11 million yen in unreported amounts for the five years up to 2022, and the yearly breakdown was 350,000 yen in 2018. 1.42 million yen in 2019, 1.26 million yen in 2020, 680,000 yen in 2021, and 400,000 yen in 2022.
On January 31st, he was accused of not recording 2.34 million yen (including income from his faction) in the three-year political funds balance report up to 2022 of the political group "Ichiryu-kai," of which he is the representative. I am correcting the income and expenditure report.
Mr. Nishida's office explained that the proceeds were allotted to the purchase of party tickets for the Seiwa Policy Research Group from the following year onward. I am keenly aware of the fact that this happened and feel a strong moral responsibility."
Seiko Hashimoto, former Olympic minister
Former Olympic and Paralympic Affairs Minister Seiko Hashimoto, who was a member of the Abe faction's standing committee, said in a survey conducted by the Liberal Democratic Party that a total of 20.57 million yen was unreported in the three years up to 2020. The breakdown by year is 2.02 million yen in 2018, 15.66 million yen in 2019, and 2.89 million yen in 2020.
On March 1, she was accused of not recording 2.89 million yen in income from her faction in the 2020 political funds balance report of the political group "Liberal Democratic Party Hokkaido House of Councilors Proportional Constituency 83rd Branch" of which she is the representative. The income and expenditure report has been corrected.
On her homepage, she wrote, ``Her refund should have been treated as a donation, and we sincerely apologize for causing concern to everyone.''
Statements by four former Abe party secretary generals at the House of Representatives Political Ethics Committee
The House of Representatives Political Ethics Committee was attended by former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura, former Secretary-General of the Abe faction, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno, former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shioya, and former National Assembly Countermeasures Committee Chairman Takagi.
1 Recognition of illegality
Regarding the recognition of illegality, none of the four members of the review board had any involvement in the faction's accounting treatment, nor were they informed about the entries in the income and expenditure report.
He denied that he was aware of the omission.
2 The beginning of kickback
It was also unclear how the kickbacks began.
Mr. Shioya said, ``I think it started some 20 years ago, but I'm not aware of the exact circumstances.''
Nishimura said, ``It is believed that it started with the purpose of supporting the political activities of young and mid-ranking members who had difficulty raising political funds on their own, but I am not aware of when it started. ``As it has been a long-standing practice between the past presidents of the Board of Directors and the executive director, there has been no involvement of executives other than the president.''
Mr. Nishimura was asked if he would not confirm with Mr. Mori, since all previous Abe faction chairmen other than former Prime Minister Mori have already passed away, and he replied, ``I have never heard that former Prime Minister Mori was involved.'' I haven't done this because there is no such thing, but if there is any doubt, I think it would be better for a third party to confirm it, since even if we confirm it, it might be assumed that we didn't agree. ” I answered.
3 What is the background to the restart of kickbacks?
Questions were raised at the House of Representatives Committee on Political Ethics about why the kickbacks to members of the Diet, who Abe, the former Prime Minister before his death in a shooting incident, was said to have ordered to be cancelled, continued.
According to Mr. Nishimura's explanation, in April of last year, at a meeting of five Abe faction executives and the secretary general, who was in charge of accounting, Mr. Abe, who was then chairman of the faction, said, ``The cash kickbacks were unclear. It is said that the government has instructed the Diet to stop providing kickbacks to members of Congress.
However, as members of the Diet called for the continuation of kickbacks, in early August, the month after Abe's death, five people other than Abe met again to discuss the continuation of kickbacks. about it.
Regarding the discussions at that time, Mr. Nishimura explained that ``no conclusion was reached,'' while Mr. Shioya said, ``There are many people who are in trouble about what to do about refunds, so the discussions were such that we thought, ``There's nothing we can do about it,'' and the discussions continued. "I understand that it has become so," he said.
In addition, Mr. Takagi, who took office as Secretary General in August of the year before this meeting, said, ``In November of the year before, I received a call from the administrative staff of the faction that a refund would be issued as in the previous year. I am not aware of the deliberations that have taken place up to that point, nor have I been involved in any way."
Opposition parties have pointed out that there are ``discrepancies'' regarding the statements made by Abe's pro-Abe executives.
Expert: ``Keep in mind the public's strict perspective''
Professor Chiju Okawa, Kanagawa University
Professor Chiju Okawa of Kanagawa University, who specializes in political process theory, pointed out the following about the Political Ethics Committee held in the House of Representatives.
``While I can appreciate the fact that it brought to light the contradictions in the statements made by those in attendance during the tense public forum, where does political responsibility and moral responsibility lie in the series of political funding issues?'' I have to say that it was a disappointing question-and-answer session in which the question was unclear, and there was no real compatibility between what the people who wanted to know the truth wanted and the members who thought they were fulfilling their responsibilities as long as they provided an explanation. ``
I would like to explain that the public's dissatisfaction with the question-and-answer session at the House of Representatives' Political Ethics Inquiry was rather incomprehensible, and that the House of Councilors' Political Ethics Inquiry is being closely watched.'' I hope both the members and the members asking the questions will keep this in mind.As a ``house of common sense,'' I hope that they will focus as much as possible on the main points and dig deeper into the questions that were not clarified in the House of Representatives.''
Political funds balance report has been corrected one after another
In response to the incident surrounding the political funding party, factions of the Liberal Democratic Party and members of the Diet who belonged to the factions have been amending their political funding reports one after another.
Abe's ``Seiwa Policy Research Group'' has removed the political funds balance report, alleging that there was 435.88 million yen in party income that was not recorded in the three years up to the year before 2017, when the preservation of income and expenditure reports is required by law. Corrected.
Additionally, an unlisted amount of 427.26 million yen was added, which was an unlisted donation from a faction to a political organization by members of the current and former members of the Diet.
The Nikai faction ``Shijikai'' reported unreported party income of 136.14 million yen in the three years up to the year before 2016, and 65.33 million yen in donations to the member of the Diet at the time. I am correcting the book.
The Kishida faction ``Hiroike Policy Research Group'' also revised its political funds balance report for the three years up to the year before yesterday, stating that there was 8.96 million yen in party income that was not recorded in 2020.
Meanwhile, NHK checked on the websites of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the election management committees of each prefecture about corrections to the income and expenditure reports of 98 political organizations, including members of the Diet and former members, whose expenditures from factions were confirmed. As of the 12th, at least 88 groups had made corrections.