Photo/Illutration A prosecution inquest panel official posts a notice on Jan. 28 to announce that 35 people, including Hiroshima prefectural assembly members, should be indicted on bribery charges in connection with Anri Kawai’s campaign in the 2019 Upper House election. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prosecutors indicted nine people, including local politicians in Hiroshima Prefecture, on bribery charges in a vote-buying scandal that cost two Diet members their seats, closing their investigation into the case.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office announced the decision on March 14. The nine individuals will face trials at the Hiroshima District Court since they are denying receiving cash from former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai or his wife, Anri, to help her win a Diet seat in the 2019 Upper House election.

Prosecutors brought summary indictments against 25 others, who admitted to the allegations during a reinvestigation. They will be fined according to the amount of money they received, ranging from 100,000 yen to 300,000 yen ($850 to $2,550) each, sources said.

Incumbent politicians found guilty of violating the Public Offices Election Law lose their seats and are generally banned from running for office again for as long as five years. By-elections are set to be held in some electoral districts to fill the expected vacancies.

Prosecutors in July 2021 said charges would not be brought against 100 individuals who each received 50,000 yen to 3 million yen in cash from the Kawais because the recipients played only a “passive” role in the scandal.

However, a prosecution inquest panel in December concluded that 35 of those 100 individuals should be indicted on charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law because they accepted a larger amount of money, did not return the cash, or refused to resign after the scandal came to light.

Prosecutors, forced to conduct a reinvestigation, decided to indict or bring summary indictments against 34 of them and exclude one person who is ill.

Of the 34 people, 26 were incumbent local politicians. Sixteen of them--eight prefectural assembly members and the same number of municipal assembly members--have already resigned or submitted letters of resignation since the prosecution inquest panel’s conclusion.

Katsuyuki and Anri Kawai were both convicted of vote-buying in the election and were forced to vacate their seats in the Diet.

Katsuyuki received a three-year prison sentence for distributing a total of 28.71 million yen to 100 people while his wife was given a suspended sentence for handing a total of 1.6 million yen to four prefectural assembly members.

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