Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that he plans to attend a parliamentary hearing on a political funds scandal that has rocked his Liberal Democratic Party, in an apparent attempt to break an impasse in negotiations on launching proceedings.
The House of Representatives political ethics committee was due to convene for two days from Wednesday, but its opening has been delayed as the ruling and opposition parties remain at odds over whether its hearings should be fully open to the media.
At his office, Kishida told reporters that his appearance at the committee would be fully open to the media, saying he would like to fulfill his accountability with regard to the scandal as president of the LDP in order to restore public trust in politics.
He added it is “extremely regrettable” that the ongoing “tug of war” between the ruling and opposition blocs has prevented the session from taking place, indicating he hopes that his fellow LDP lawmakers will also agree to the presence of the media.
The LDP has come under intense scrutiny amid allegations that some factions, such as the one Kishida headed until December, neglected to report portions of their incomes from fundraising parties and created slush funds.
Kishida’s pledge comes as his government aims to secure swift passage of a budget for the next fiscal year starting in April. Diet deliberations on the budget are at a stalemate due to the impasse over the committee hearings.
While hearings of the ethics panel are, in principle, closed, they can be made public when attendees agree. Of nine similar cases in the past, only one, in 1996, was completely closed, while five were open to the media.
The LDP has said five members, including lawmakers belonging to its biggest faction at the center of the scandal, have expressed their readiness to attend the hearings, but some of them have been reluctant to participate if they are open to the media.
Kishida would be the first incumbent prime minister to attend the deliberative council on political ethics, last held in July 2009. The committee is responsible for examining the political and moral conduct of lawmakers who face allegations of wrongdoing.
The opposition bloc has agreed to proceed with talks with the LDP to convene the committee for a hearing attended by Kishida on Thursday, a lawmaker of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan told reporters.
Kishida is expected to explain the fundraising parties he has held since taking power in October 2021. He has faced criticism for hosting such events, as a code of conduct for ministers urges Cabinet members to refrain from holding “large-scale” parties.
Last week, the LDP said two lawmakers — Ryu Shionoya, the de facto leader of the biggest faction formerly led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Ryota Takeda, a senior member of another intraparty group, will attend the council.
The proposal, however, was not accepted by the opposition camp, which demanded the attendance of more LDP lawmakers. Later, the LDP said three additional senior members of its largest faction would attend the lower house council session.
The three are former trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and former LDP Diet affairs chief Tsuyoshi Takagi, all of whom previously served as secretary general of the Abe faction.
Around 580 million yen ($3.9 million) in total was passed back to 82 incumbent lawmakers belonging to the two factions during a five-year period through 2022, the party said.
BY: KYODO
