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

The Tokyo Summary Court on Aug. 29 fined disgraced politician Manabu Horii over his failure to report political funds he received from the Liberal Democratic Party’s Abe faction.

Horii, 52, who resigned as a Lower House member on Aug. 28, was the fourth individual among current and former Diet members to be charged in connection with the ruling party’s fund-raising scandal.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Department also filed a summary indictment against Horii over condolence money he distributed to voters in his constituency in Hokkaido through his aides.

The summary court fined Horii 1 million yen ($7,000) and also suspended his civil rights for three years for the two offenses.

Horii sold tickets to the Abe faction’s fund-raising parties, and the faction funneled amounts that exceeded his quota back to Horii, prosecutors said.

He followed the faction’s policy of not declaring the revenues as donations in political fund income and expenditure reports, a violation of the Political Fund Control Law, prosecutors said.

An investigation by the LDP found that the Abe faction returned 21.96 million yen in such proceeds to Horii over five years through 2022.

Prosecutors asked the Tokyo Summary Court to fine Horii over the approximately 17 million yen that he received between 2019 and 2021.

Ten individuals, including three Diet members, have been indicted on charges of violating the Political Fund Control Law over the LDP scandal centered on unreported political funds.

In a statement released on Aug. 28, Horii admitted that he failed to report large amounts of political funds and that he made condolence payments in an illegal manner.

Horii left the LDP on July 18 after prosecutors searched his offices in Tokyo and Hokkaido over the payments.

Prosecutors suspect Horii violated the Public Offices Election Law by providing about 610,000 yen in condolence money and funeral flowers between October 2021 and October 2023 without attending the funerals of his supporters or their family members.

Horii has told investigators that part of the condolence money came from the unreported proceeds from party tickets that he received from the Abe faction, sources said.

Horii won a bronze medal in speedskating at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994.

After serving on the Hokkaido assembly, Horii won his first Lower House seat in 2012.

He was in his fourth term when he submitted his resignation to the Lower House on Aug. 28. It was accepted the same day.

In April, Horii was suspended from LDP posts for one year as a party disciplinary measure over his failure to report the 21.96 million yen in party ticket proceeds.

He announced in June that he will not run in the next Lower House election over his involvement in the fund-raising scandal.

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