Photo/Illutration Isshu Sugawara in January 2020 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Tokyo Summary Court matched prosecutors’ requests by suspending the civil rights of former economy minister Isshu Sugawara for three years and fining him 400,000 yen ($3,620) over suspected illegal donations given to his constituents.

Once the guilty verdict is finalized, he will be barred from running for office during those three years.

Sugawara, 59, appeared ready to accept the decision.

“I will take the summary order seriously and once again deeply regret what I did. I will make efforts (to win back public trust),” he said in a statement.

The court could have suspended his civil rights for five years, but it apparently took into account his resignation from the Lower House and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party earlier this month.

In the summary order dated June 16, the court fined him 400,000 yen for violating the Public Offices Election Law. The maximum penalty is a fine of 500,000 yen.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office had sought the same penalties when it brought a summary indictment against Sugawara on June 8, according to sources.

No formal trial will be held in the case unless Sugawara asks for one in an appeal that must be filed within two weeks of the court’s decision.

Prosecutors said Sugawara illegally donated 802,200 yen to 33 groups and 26 individuals in his electoral district in Tokyo between April 2018 and October 2019. The total included 288,600 yen that bought flowers for a funeral or was provided as condolence money that his aide distributed at funerals.

The rest was spent similarly for celebratory occasions, according to prosecutors.

Although prosecutors acknowledged in June 2020 that his use of 300,000 yen for funeral flowers and condolence money was illegal, they dropped the case because they deemed his actions were not seriously malicious.

But they were forced to reopen the investigation after a Tokyo Committee for the Inquest Prosecution ruled in March that his actions warranted an indictment.

In the fresh investigation, prosecutors acknowledged that Sugawara had illicitly used an additional 500,000 yen and decided to issue a summary indictment against him, sources said.

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