Photo/Illutration Manabu Horii resigned as a Lower House member on Aug. 28. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prosecutors searched the offices and apartment of lawmaker Horii Manabu on July 18 amid an investigation into payouts to voters.

The same day, the Liberal Democratic Party accepted Horii’s notice to quit.

Officers from the special investigations department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office carried out the visits on suspicion that Horii violated the Public Offices Election Law.

Horii, 52, is a member of the Lower House and a former Olympic speed skater.

He is suspected of giving cash to voters in his constituency via his secretary.

The cash was handed over as condolence money, which typically is given to bereaved families in Japan. 

The Public Offices Election Law prohibits politicians from giving money or other gifts to constituents. Exceptions to this include when a politician attends a funeral and hands money over directly.

Breaches of the law carry a fine of not more than 500,000 yen ($3,196).

Horii’s secretary is believed to have given sums ranging from 10,000 yen to several times that when one of Horii’s supporters or their family members died, sources said. In total, several hundred thousand yen was given.

Around 10 members of the special investigation department entered Horii’s office in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district at around 10:50 a.m. on July 18. At the same time, officers entered Horii’s Diet member’s residence in Tokyo and another office in Noboribetsu in Hokkaido.

Horii had a previous career as a speed skater. He won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

He was elected to the Lower House in 2012 for the first time, representing the Hokkaido 9th district.

He lost the constituency vote in the 2021 election but retained a seat under proportional representation. He is currently serving his fourth term in the Lower House.

Horii is a former member of the LDP’s Abe faction, the party’s largest faction, and a grouping that was under fire recently by a slush fund scandal.

Horii received a total 21.9 million yen in covert cash from the faction. He did not declare the receipt in his political funding declaration.

He was suspended from taking key posts in the LDP for a year as a punishment.

A university professor has filed a complaint with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office against him, accusing him of violating the Political Fund Control Law.

In June, Horii said, “I take responsibility for the series of political fund scandals I took part in.”

He announced that he would not run for re-election but said he would not step down as a lawmaker or quit the party.

Meanwhile, Horii might look to the case of fellow lawmaker Isshu Sugawara for what happens next.

The former economy minister illegally contributed condolence money, celebration money and flowers on 71 occasions. The gifts totaled an estimated 800,000 yen. The beneficiaries were 33 entities and 26 individuals in Sugawara’s constituency.

In June 2021, Sugawara received a summary fine of 400,000 yen and restriction against his civil rights for three years.

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