An in-house investigation by the Liberal Democratic Party into secret funds accumulated by its two major factions yielded no answers to key questions.

The reasons for the organization-wide initiatives to pool some of the proceeds from fundraising parties to build up slush funds remain unclear.

With regard to the use of these funds, the only bits of information to be disclosed are a compilation of what the faction members involved asserted, true or false. Moreover, all the statements were made anonymously.

It seems questionable whether the ruling party is serious about clarifying the truth and fulfilling its responsibility to provide an exhaustive explanation. If the LDP cannot be entrusted with this task, then the Diet must fulfill that role.

In response to questions about the lack of transparency and accountability related to political fundraising parties, the LDP published a report of interviews with 91 members from the bloc once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the group once headed by Toshihiro Nikai, a former LDP secretary-general.

Noting that the report was prepared by a team of lawyers who attended the hearings held by party executives, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asserted that “maximum consideration was given to objectivity and neutrality.” However, it is clear that this internal investigation lacked the rigor and strictness of an independent third-party inquiry.

Of the 85 individuals involved in receiving income from fundraisers or engaging in skimming, 53 claimed they were unaware of these facts since they were not involved in managing the funds they received. They are at least guilty of depending excessively on their secretaries for fund management and failing to fulfill their supervisory responsibilities.

It is shocking that, among the 32 individuals who were aware of their faction’s practice of redistributing part of the proceeds from fundraising parties to members, 11 knew that such money was not duly declared in the relevant political funds balance reports. They effectively turned a blind eye to violations of the Political Funds Control Law.

These ethical violations surely disqualify the politicians to serve as members of the Diet, which is responsible for legislation. Given that the report did not disclose the names of the members involved, the LDP should publicly name them and clarify their responsibilities.

A significant number of members and secretaries harbored doubts or felt troubled about these undeclared funds, according to the report. There were even instances where such “dubious sums of money” went unspent. Yet, the lawmakers claimed they had only followed the faction secretariat’s instructions or explanations that reporting the money was not necessary.

These members of the Diet, who represent the people, abandoned their independent judgment about the management of these funds and complied passively with clearly questionable instructions from their factions. These facts attest to another serious evil of factionalism.

It also remains unclear as to when the Abe faction began to amass unreported funds, with the report saying “at least over a dozen years ago, possibly more than 20 years ago.” 

The investigation team did not interview former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, the former chairman of the faction who still wields strong influence after retiring from politics. Getting to the root of the issue will be impossible without asking this key person questions.

Regarding the use of slush funds, the report lists 15 categories, including meeting expenses, office expenses and personnel costs.

No one admitted to using the funds for anything other than political activities, but these are merely unconfirmed claims made by the lawmakers.

Unless clear explanations accompanied by receipts are offered by each member, these claims cannot be readily taken at face value.

In the Diet, talks between the ruling and opposition parties have begun toward holding sessions of the Deliberative Council on Political Ethics to hear explanations from the legislators involved.

To address the deficiencies in the LDP’s investigation and resolve remaining questions, it is essential to convene the council as soon as possible. The legislature is also set to start deliberations on reforms of the related systems to inject more transparency and accountability into political funding. The LDP cannot afford to engage in political maneuverings over the matter.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 17