Photo/Illutration Yoshiro Mori continues to influence Liberal Democratic Party politics even after retiring as a lawmaker. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have put himself in a tight situation by digging further into the funding scandal embroiling the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Kishida and other LDP executives have questioned four top officials of the Abe faction over its practice of collecting proceeds from ticket sales to its fund-raising parties and returning money to individual faction members that went beyond their ticket sales quotas.

The questioning was made necessary in part because faction leaders at Diet ethics panels never explained how the practice came about or why it continued.

During questioning by Kishida, the officials mentioned a person who might be able to answer those and other questions: former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Among LDP groups, the Abe faction had accumulated by far the largest amount of unreported funds through the practice.

Before he was assassinated in July 2022, Abe had decided to end the practice.

But from around August 2022, Abe’s decision was reversed and funds were again collected and returned to faction members.

One of the faction officials questioned by Kishida said that when the decision was reversed, Mori had increased his influence over the faction.

Because of Abe’s huge presence, the faction could not decide on a new leader. The vacuum cleared the way for Mori, who used to head the faction, to once again assert his influence.

Mori, in fact, is said to have designed the post-Abe group leadership scheme for the faction, and named the five top officials who would be included in that circle.

Some of those questioned have also said the fund-return practice went as far back as two decades. That was a period when Mori served as faction head.

Except for when he was prime minister for about a year from April 2000, Mori led the faction from 1998 until 2006.

Kishida has said that he wants to hand out disciplinary measures over the accumulation of unreported money from fund-raising parties sometime next week.

But the new testimony presented by those from the Abe faction puts the prime minister in a dilemma.

The opposition parties have insisted that Mori be called before the Diet to answer questions about his role in the practice, but the LDP has been reluctant to go along.

If Kishida does question Mori, he may feel the wrath of the faction, especially if new information emerges that leads to further investigations by prosecutors.

Despite retiring as a lawmaker, Mori, 86, still wields considerable influence in the political world.

If Kishida fails to uncover new information from Mori, the opposition would likely criticize him for attempting to cover up what really happened.

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