Photo/Illutration The Budget Committee of the Lower House prepares to hold a witness hearing at a hotel in Tokyo on Feb. 27. The vacant seat at the bottom left is reserved for Junichiro Matsumoto, the official formerly in charge of accounting for the former Abe faction of the Liberal Democratic Party. (Ikuro Aiba)

The long-awaited hearing of the former accounting chief for the now-disbanded Abe faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party by the Lower House Budget Committee finally took place on Feb. 27.

Yet, it did not completely resolve questions surrounding the political funds scandal, leaving unresolved discrepancies with the explanations previously offered by faction leaders.

This hearing should not simply serve as a procedural "formality" in advance of the Lower House's vote on the upcoming fiscal year's draft budget starting in April. The Diet must use every available means to thoroughly investigate the scandal.

The questioning of Junichiro Matsumoto, who was found guilty of violating the Political Funds Control Law, occurred in a highly unusual setting— a non-public session at a Tokyo hotel, attended by the executive members of the committee from both ruling and opposition parties, including Chairman Jun Azumi.

A month has passed since the opposition parties, holding the majority, voted to summon Matsumoto, who was convicted of making false entries in the political fund reports of the faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The initially scheduled date of Feb. 20 was postponed due to disagreements over how to conduct the hearing. The LDP's reluctance was evident, as it opposed even the decision to hold a vote on summoning Matsumoto as an unsworn witness, citing his status as a private citizen.

The focus of the hearing was Matsumoto’s involvement in the scheme to build slush funds within the faction, where proceeds from fund-raising parties that exceeded quotas for individual politicians were returned to the lawmakers who organized the parties.

Matsumoto explained that the practice of recycling the amounts in excess of ticket quotas and omitting them from political fund reports was a "custom" before he became the secretary-general of the faction in 2019.

Although he was aware it was illegal, he felt compelled to comply, according to his testimony. He also stated he did not know when this practice started.

Regarding the resumption of this practice after Abe, who was the faction leader and ordered it stopped, died, Matsumoto said it was decided at a faction executive meeting in August 2022, attended by himself and four others—Ryu Shionoya, Hakubun Shimomura, Yasutoshi Nishimura and Hiroshige Seko.

This account contradicts the claim made by three of the four politicians, except for Shionoya, that no conclusion was reached at the meeting.

During his own trial, Matsumoto said one faction executive had demanded that the practice be revived. During the Feb. 27 hearing, Matsumoto did not name the “executive," merely stating, "He is not currently an incumbent (legislator).”

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Matsumoto "was in a position where he had no choice but to follow the decisions of the faction leader and executives."

Although these executives have previously explained themselves at the Deliberative Council on Political Ethics of both the Lower and Upper Houses, Matsumoto's testimony has made it necessary for them to answer related questions again in the Diet.

Nishimura and Seko, who were elected as independents in last year’s Lower House election and formed a parliamentary group with the LDP, bear significant responsibility.

If building the slush funds was indeed a long-standing practice, then former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who served intermittently as faction leader from 1998 to 2006, might be in a position to know the real situation.

It is unacceptable to settle the issue of Mori’s possible involvement with the perfunctory phone inquiry made by then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated in the Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 26, "It is undeniable that many Japanese people, including myself, want to know what exactly happened.”

Before making final decisions on pending political fund reforms, such as the handling of donations by businesses and other organizations, it is essential for the Diet to dispel doubts regarding the slush funds issue.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 28

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