Photo/Illutration Kentaro Sonoura speaks at a news conference on Nov. 30. (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

The Tokyo Summary Court on Dec. 27 ordered former Lower House member Kentaro Sonoura to pay a fine of 1 million yen ($7,500) and banned him from running for office for three years.

Sonoura, 50, is accused of underreporting about 46 million yen in political fund reports.

Once he pays the fine, the criminal proceedings against him will end, and a public trial will not be held.

Elected officials convicted of violating the Political Fund Control Law in summary courts are, in principle, banned from running in elections for five years.

But the summary court shortened the period for Sonoura, apparently taking into account his resignation from the Diet on Dec. 21.

He also left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party the same day.

On Dec. 22, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office filed summary indictments against Sonoura and two of his former aides, Hayato Otani, 35, and Shoji Sato, 80.

The three are accused of failing to record revenues and expenses in political fund reports from 2018 to 2020.

The reports were submitted by a fund management body called the “study group of politics and the economy in new era” and the LDP’s branch for the No. 5 electoral district in Chiba Prefecture.

Sonoura, who was elected to the Lower House five times, headed both groups, with Otani serving as treasurer.

After working as a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun and serving as an aide to current LDP Vice President Taro Aso, Sonoura was first elected to the Lower House in 2005 from the No. 5 electoral district in Chiba Prefecture.

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