Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida heads to a meeting with other top executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Dec. 25. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to establish a new organ within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to discuss political reforms in light of the ongoing scandal over unreported money accumulated through fund-raising parties.

According to several high-ranking administration sources, the organ will report directly to Kishida, who is also LDP president, and the ultimate aim of the discussions will be to revise the Political Fund Control Law.

Strengthening the law is expected to be a key focus of debate at the ordinary Diet session scheduled to convene in January.

The largest LDP faction, once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is suspected of accumulating about 500 million yen ($3.5 million) over a five-year period through fund-raising parties, but the money was not reported on the faction’s political fund reports, according to investigative sources.

The funds were eventually distributed to faction members, many of whom did not report the money as income in their own reports, the sources said.

“We confirmed the need to take resolute action, such as starting an organization to recover trust in the party as soon as possible in the new year,” Kishida told reporters after meeting with top LDP executives on Dec. 25.

Plunging approval ratings for the Kishida Cabinet and public discontent over reports about the shady handling of funds by LDP factions have led party officials to conclude that legal revisions would be the only way to respond, the administration sources said.

Some LDP members have proposed lowering the amount of ticket purchases to fund-raising parties that obligates naming those who made such purchases.

Currently, only those who bought more than 200,000 yen in tickets for a single fund-raising party have their names disclosed.

Another proposal is to stiffen the penalties for lawmakers who intentionally fail to submit accurate political fund reports.

The current Political Fund Control Law is the byproduct of past money-in-politics scandals. But it could be difficult to plug the various loopholes in the law and to greatly heighten transparency over money going to lawmakers.

Opposition party lawmakers are also expected to make suggestions to toughen the law.

Coordinating discussions to reach a compromise with the ruling coalition might be time-consuming.

Investigative sources said that prosecutors questioned Koichi Hagiuda, the former LDP policy chief, on a voluntary basis about money gathered by the Abe faction through fund-raising parties.

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and other leading figures in the faction were earlier interviewed by prosecutors about the fund-raising parties and the return of money to faction members.

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