Diet begins deliberations on revisions to the political funds law

TOKYO (Jiji Press) – The Diet on Thursday began substantive deliberations on bills submitted by the ruling and opposition parties respectively to revise the Political Funds Control Law.

In the wake of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s “slush fund” scandal, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also president of the LDP, is seeking a revision of the law during the current regular parliamentary session, which ends in June.

However, with the opposition camp becoming increasingly critical of the LDP’s proposed bill, there is no clear path in sight for making revisions.

During the day meeting of the Special Committee on Political Reform of the House of Representatives, Keisuke Suzuki of the LDP emphasized: “The most important thing is to thoroughly implement measures to prevent recurrence. [of similar problems].”

The LDP bill, which calls for requiring lawmakers to attach a confirmation letter to their political fund reports, “would introduce a system that entails direct checks by lawmakers and [room for] Apologies,” Suzuki said.

The LDP bill would also tighten rules for disclosing information about ticket buyers for fundraising events, making such disclosure mandatory for those purchasing more than ¥100,000 per event, up from the current threshold of ¥200,000.

The proposed ¥100,000 threshold “will be easy to understand as a standard,” said Hisayuki Fujii, another LDP lawmaker.

Regarding so-called policy activity funds, Suzuki noted that the LDP bill would require the use of such funds to be specified by category in political fund reports. “This will be a strict process in which any errors can be recognized as a violation of the law,” he said.

Meanwhile, Michiyoshi Yunoki of Japan’s main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party called for the abolition of the funds for policy activities themselves. Yunoki asked the LDP why it opposes the disclosure of receipts for payments from such funds, arguing that the LDP appears eager to protect the “freedom of slush funds.”

Opposition parties are also calling for a ban on donations from companies or other organizations. But the LDP’s Suzuki asserted that such donations “have never distorted policy decisions.”