Photo/Illutration Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, at a news conference at the party's headquarters on Jan. 23 (Shinichi Fujiwara)

A political organization related to Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi transferred about 320 million yen ($2.13 million) to another group with the same address, phone number and treasurer over 10 years to 2022.

The group that received the funds was not registered as a political organization affiliated with the Diet member.

Therefore, the unaffiliated group did not have to follow the stricter disclosure rules imposed on registered organizations.

Excluding personnel expenses, the use of only 7.1 percent of the funds by the receiving group over the 10-year period is known, a ratio significantly lower than that of the source organization.

Renho, an Upper House member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, brought up the issue at an Upper House Budget Committee meeting on March 4 and asked the government to take action.

Motegi’s related political organization is called “Motegi Toshimitsu Seisaku Kenkyukai” (policy research group), a fund management organization registered with the internal affairs ministry.

Over the 10-year period, Motegi had been donating about 30 million yen annually from the registered group to the unregistered “Motegi Toshimitsu Koenkai Sorengokai” (general association of supporters’ group).

Yoshitaka Shindo, state minister in charge of economic revitalization who is secretary-general of Motegi faction in the LDP, was also found to have done similar money transfers.

Over the 10-year period, Shindo donated about 250 million yen from “the LDP’s Saitama Prefecture No. 2 electoral district branch,” which he chairs, to “Shindo Yoshitaka Koenkai” (supporters’ group), which is not affiliated with himself.

Both Motegi and Shindo reported the same address and treasurer on their 2022 political fund balance sheets.

In principle, political organizations related to Diet members must include detailed information on their income and expenditure reports for ordinary expenses and political activity expenses exceeding 10,000 yen per case.

But the amount per political activity expense is 50,000 yen or more for other political organizations. And they are not obliged to list any details for their ordinary expenses.

Although audits are required for political organizations related to Diet members, they are not required for other political groups.

The Asahi Shimbun examined the income and expenditure reports from 2013 to 2022 of the leaders and secretaries-general of the five main factions of the LDP, as well as the heads of the main opposition parties.

Motegi and Shindo were the only ones who had transferred funds to “other political organizations” with the same contact information every year, according to the study.

Most of the income of the receiving organizations came from the transferred funds.

Motegi said at a news conference on March 4 that the funds “have been handled legally” and that “I will also consider ways to improve transparency.”

Shindo said at a news conference on March 5 that the funds “have been properly reported in accordance with the law.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a Diet session on March 4, “If there are doubts, I think we should consider amending laws and other measures to clear up those doubts.”

Tomoaki Iwai, a professor emeritus at Nihon University who specializes in political fund issues, said: “It is an illegal act that reduces transparency, and I have never seen such a large sum of money moved. This is a case that shows the limits of the system, and a revision is urgently needed.”

(This article was written by Taishi Sasayama, Takashi Togo, and senior staff writer Yoshitaka Ito.)

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