The Political Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives will soon hear an explanation and question-and-answer session from Hirofumi Shimomura, former chairman of the Political Affairs Research Council, who is pro-Abe, regarding the issue surrounding the political funding party of a faction of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The focus will be on what kind of explanation will be given regarding the executive meeting held the year before yesterday in which the handling of kickbacks was discussed.
The judging session will begin after 3:00 p.m., and we will keep you updated on the details.
table of contents
1.Why did the kickback continue?
[Who is Hirofumi Shimomura, whose comments are attracting attention?]
2.Was there any awareness of the illegality?
3. When did kickbacks start?
Expert: ``My doubts about past examination committees are deepening.''
The contents of Mr. Shimomura's corrections are
Open table of contents
table of contents
table of contents
1.Why did the kickback continue?
[Who is Hirofumi Shimomura, whose comments are attracting attention?]
2.Was there any awareness of the illegality?
3. When did kickbacks start?
Expert: ``My doubts about past examination committees are deepening.''
The contents of Mr. Shimomura's corrections are
1.Why did the kickback continue?
A major focus of the review committees held in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors so far has been the question of why the kickbacks to members of the Diet, which Abe, the former Prime Minister, allegedly ordered to be stopped, continued after that. .
Mr. Nishimura, Mr. Shioya, Mr. Seko, and Mr. Shimomura, who have already given their defense at the review committee, attended the meeting of Abe's faction leaders held in August 2019, at which the continuation of kickbacks is said to have been discussed. was doing.
At the review meeting on the 1st of this month, Mr. Nishimura said, ``There was a voice from a member of the Diet who had sold more than the quota that they wanted their money back, so executives met in early August to discuss how to respond. In response, Mr. Shioya said, ``
There are many people who are having trouble deciding what to do with their refunds, so I understand that the discussion was about ``I guess it can't be helped'' and the decision was made to continue.'' "There is," he explained.
Seko's remarks at the House of Councilors panel drew attention as opposition parties pointed out that the explanations were inconsistent.
However, at that meeting, Mr. Seko stated that ``nothing definite has been decided,'' and when asked, ``Where and who made the decision to continue the kickbacks,'' he answered, ``Who made the decision?'' I would like to know for myself.'' Questions still remain unresolved as to how decisions were made by faction leaders.
[Who is Hirofumi Shimomura, whose comments are attracting attention?]
Hirofumi Shimomura has been elected to the Tokyo 11th Ward of the House of Representatives nine times.
He has previously served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Political Affairs Research Board.
In the Abe faction, he served as Secretary General under then-Chairman Hosoda from January 2018 to September 2019, and Shioya Shioya, former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, from November 2021, when former Prime Minister Abe became chairman, to August last year. He also served as acting chairman.
He was also one of the people who attended the executive meeting held in August last year to discuss how to handle kickbacks to members of the Diet.
However, it is said that there is a distance between former Prime Minister Mori, who once served as the faction's chairman, and the influential members of the group known as the ``Five,'' and under the new system that was launched in August last year, a permanent member of the faction is responsible for decision-making. I did not become a member of the executive committee.
2.Was there any awareness of the illegality?
Regarding the consultations held in August last year, Shimomura said at a press conference in January this year, ``The idea was that the refund would be added to each member's individual fundraising party, and it would be legally disbursed in the income and expenditure report.'' ” states.
Opposition parties have pointed out that this statement of ``a legal form'' indicates that Abe's senior leaders may have been aware of the illegality.
Furthermore, it is not clear who presented the "plan" that Mr. Shimomura refers to, with Mr. Seko stating that he "doesn't remember," so Mr. Shimomura's explanation will be the focus of attention.
3. When did kickbacks start?
Another focus is how and when the kickbacks began.
Mr. Shioya has said, ``I think it started about 20 years ago, but I'm not aware of the exact circumstances,'' and Mr. Seko said, ``I think it started at least 10 years ago, but when did it happen?'' I don't know if it started."
Mr. Nishimura also said, ``As it has been a long-standing practice between the faction's past presidents and the executive director, executives other than the president have never been involved.''
The previous Abe faction presidents, Mr. Abe, Mr. Hosoda, and Mr. Machimura, have already passed away.
Regarding whether Mori, the former Abe faction chairman and former Prime Minister who had a strong influence on the faction, was involved, executives who have attended the meeting so far have said, ``In the Liberal Democratic Party's hearing, Mr. Mori's Mr. Shimomura's involvement is not acknowledged,'' and the public is paying attention to what kind of recognition and thoughts Mr. Shimomura will express on this point.
Expert: ``My doubts about past examination committees are deepening.''
Chiju Okawa, a professor at Kanagawa University who specializes in political process theory, said, ``Instead of resolving the public's doubts about political funding, past committees have deepened them, creating a feeling of indigestion among a wide range of people.'' Point out.
On top of that, Mr. Shimomura talks about the screening committee he attends as follows:
"Former Prime Minister Abe's decision to end kickbacks has been defended by pro-Abe executives, saying that he was probably trying to increase transparency, but the executives at the time also There is a suspicion that he was aware of the legal issues.It is unclear how far Mr. Shimomura will be able to go into his statements, but in any case, the content of the explanations given by executives so far is The extremely poor situation will have a big impact, and we can expect things to turn out to be difficult for the Liberal Democratic Party."
The contents of Mr. Shimomura's corrections are
Mr. Shimomura, who served as the secretary general of the Abe faction, said in a survey conducted by the Liberal Democratic Party that there was a total of 4.76 million yen in unreported amounts for the four years up to 2022, and the annual breakdown is for 2019. is 360,000 yen, 2020 is 1,240,000 yen, 2021 is 1,880,000 yen, and 2022 is 1,280,000 yen.
He was accused of failing to record a total of 4.4 million yen in income from factions in the political funds balance report for the three years up to 2022 of the political group "Liberal Democratic Party Tokyo 11th Constituent District Branch," of which he is the representative. I amend the income and expenditure report on the 31st of each month.
On his website, Mr. Shimomura stated that the proceeds from the sale of party tickets for factions that exceeded the quota were ``managed in a dedicated account and were not spent at all,'' adding, ``It should have been recorded as a donation, but... There was also an erroneous communication from the faction secretariat, so it remained unrecorded."