THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 1, 2021 at 16:41 JST
Isshu Sugawara in January 2020 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Former economy minister Isshu Sugawara will resign from both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Diet as early as June 1 over suspected illegal donations to his constituents, sources said.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, which had initially dropped the case, is expected to bring a summary indictment against Sugawara, 59, on charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law.
The maximum penalty is a fine of 500,000 yen ($4,570).
Sugawara is expected to admit to the illegal act and pay the fine, sources said, adding that he has already decided to resign.
Once a summary court issues the fine and the guilty verdict is finalized, Sugawara will lose his position as a lawmaker, and his civil rights will be restricted for five years, during which time he will be barred from running for office.
Tokyo prosecutors in June 2020 said Sugawara made illegal donations totaling 300,000 yen to people in his constituency, the Tokyo No. 9 district, from 2017 to 2019.
The cash was used to buy flowers for a funeral or as condolence money that his aide brought to funerals.
But prosecutors decided not to indict him, saying, “It is hard to say that his attitude made light of the law.”
However, the Tokyo No. 4 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution in March concluded that Sugawara’s actions warranted an indictment.
It also said the prosecutors’ focus on the 300,000 yen was too narrow.
Prosecutors reopened the investigation after the citizen committee’s resolution. They concluded that hundreds of thousands of yen that Sugawara handed over as a fee to a neighborhood association that hosted a local festival was also illegal.
Prosecutors said that illicit payment heightened Sugawara’s wrongfulness, and they decided to bring a summary indictment against him, sources said.
A summary indictment is a simplified legal process under which a document is issued to order the guilty party to pay a fine. Unless a summary court concludes that a summary indictment is inadequate for the case, there is no formal trial.
Sugawara won his first Lower House seat in 2003 and has served six terms as a lawmaker.
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