Photo/Illutration LDP Lower House member Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife, LDP Upper House member Anri Kawai (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prosecutors on March 3 arrested three people in a suspected vote-buying scandal and searched the Tokyo offices of an Upper House member of the ruling party and her husband, a former justice minister.

The suspects were identified as: Hiroshi Tatemichi, 54, an official aide to Anri Kawai, who won her first seat in the Diet in the July 2019 Upper House election; Shinsuke Takaya, 43, a policy aide to Anri’s husband, Katsuyuki; and Yugo Waki, 71, a high-ranking official of Anri’s campaign staff.

According to sources close to the investigation, the suspects paid about 30,000 yen ($278) a day to staff members who called out Anri’s name from campaign vehicles in Hiroshima Prefecture during the election last year. That was about double the legal amount set under election laws.

The total amount paid to the staff members was 2.04 million, the sources said.

During voluntary questioning by investigators, Tatemichi, who was in charge of arranging the routes for the campaign cars carrying Anri to various parts of the prefecture, admitted to knowing that the payments exceeded the legal amount, the sources said.

Before becoming Kawai’s aide, Tatemichi worked for Katsuyuki, a Lower House member also of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Katsuyuki resigned as justice minister on Oct. 31 after reports surfaced in a weekly magazine about possible election violations regarding payments to Anri’s campaign staff.

If the suspects are found guilty and deemed to have played significant roles in Anri’s campaign, the election results could be nullified.

Investigators with the Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office also searched the offices of both Kawais in the Diet members’ buildings.

The sources said prosecutors were also looking into the activities of another campaign staff member who received about 960,000 yen from Anri’s campaign between June and Aug. 1 last year.

The deposits to the man’s bank account all came from the LDP branch headed by Anri.

The man has also been questioned on a voluntary basis. He explained that he visited various companies in Hiroshima and asked them to support Anri in the election, the sources said.

Under the Public Offices Election Law, campaign staff who go around seeking votes for a specific candidate must do so without pay. That provision does not apply to staff members who call out the candidate’s name from campaign vehicles.

The sources said investigators were looking into whether the 960,000 yen or so received by the man constituted remuneration for campaign activities.

After the weekly magazine reported on the payments to Anri’s staff members, members of a citizens’ group in Hiroshima Prefecture filed a criminal complaint against Anri concerning the expenditures.

Investigators questioned her staff members from December and searched the Hiroshima offices and the residence of the Kawais on Jan. 15, five days before the start of the current ordinary Diet session.

Another question raised about Anri’s campaign was the 150 million yen her campaign office received from LDP headquarters. While Anri said there was nothing illegal about the payment, the amount was well above what most LDP candidates receive.

The two Kawais are political allies of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

Suga and also Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave speeches during the July Upper House election on behalf of Anri, even though the LDP incumbent was also in the race. The incumbent lost his Upper House seat in the election.

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