Japanese Lawmaker Ikeda Arrested over Funds Scandal

Tokyo, Jan. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japanese public prosecutors arrested House of Representatives member Yoshitaka Ikeda and one of his secretaries on Sunday over a political funds scandal involving the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s largest faction.

Ikeda, a 57-year-old member of the faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and the 45-year-old secretary, Kazuhiro Kakinuma, were arrested on suspicion of violating the political funds control law.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office suspects Ikeda and Kakinuma, who is in charge of accounting for the Lower House member, of conspiring to underreport the amount of funds provided by the faction by some 48 million yen in Ikeda’s 2018-2022 political funds statements.

Ikeda and Kakinuma became the first people to be arrested in the funds scandal involving the Abe faction, which allegedly created slush funds using part of fundraising party revenue. Investigators from the prosecutors’ office searched Ikeda’s offices on Dec. 27.

The faction set sales quotas for fundraising party tickets for member lawmakers according to the number of times they have been elected to parliament and their positions, according to people familiar with the matter.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]