Photo/Illutration Kentaro Sonoura, a Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, after giving a news conference Nov. 30 to address allegations of underreporting political funds (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

Ruling party lawmaker Kentaro Sonoura intends to resign from the Diet before Tokyo prosecutors move forward on allegations he was involved in underreporting political funds, sources said.

The 50-year-old Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party who represents a constituency in Chiba Prefecture faces growing criticism that his political funds reports failed to list about 40 million yen ($294,000) gained through fund-raising parties.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is considering filing a summary indictment against Sonoura on charges of violating the Political Fund Control Law, recognizing that he and his tax-funded aide conspired to underreport the political funds, according to investigative sources.

If convicted, Sonoura would face a fine of up to 1 million yen, lose his job as a lawmaker and be barred from running in elections for five years, in principle.

Sonoura told people around him that he intends to leave the Diet to take responsibility for the money scandal before the summary indictment is issued, sources close to the lawmaker said.

Although he would still be forbidden from running for elections if convicted, prosecutors could reduce the five-year suspension period based on Sonoura’s gesture to resign and to “cooperate” with the investigation, according to the sources.

A summary indictment is a simplified proceeding where the accused does not face a formal court trial. Such an indictment would only become possible with Sonoura’s consent.

The underreporting was connected to a political fund-management organization that Sonoura represents. The aide in question was in charge of accounting at the organization.

The fund-management organization and its affiliated political group together underreported a combined 40 million yen, according to the sources.

The reports are also believed to have omitted many other payments.

The aide has told investigators that after each fund-raising party, he informed Sonoura about the money raised and the sum that would be excluded from the political funds reports, the sources said.

In November, Sonoura told reporters that he was unaware that figures listed in the reports did not reflect the actual sums of money raised and insisted he had no prior knowledge of the underreporting.

However, he acknowledged being informed about the underreporting in advance when investigators questioned him on a voluntary basis this month.

In addition, he told people close to him that he would agree to a summary indictment if prosecutors decided on that measure, the sources said.

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