Junichiro Matsumoto, the former treasurer of the Liberal Democratic Party faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pleaded guilty in court on Friday to underreporting political funds worth a total of 670 million yen ($4.3 million). ) in the period from 2018 to 2022.
But he disputed some of the charges against him, arguing he was unaware of additional amounts raised and withheld from the caucus by individual lawmakers in 2018 and 2019.
On the first day of his trial at the Tokyo District Court, prosecutors accused him of deliberately failing to report income collected through fundraising parties, an act that violates the Political Funds Control Law.
