Japan's ruling party urged to make tax scandal key election issue

Japanese citizens are urging that the slush fund and tax evasion scandal should be the central issue of the upcoming Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, presidential election, as a means to eliminate corrupt, money-driven politics.

On Tuesday, Takakage Fujita, president of the Alliance to Stop the Impermissible Acts of Slush Fund and Tax Evasion by the LDP, filed for a prosecutorial review with his legal representatives to challenge the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's decision to return their criminal complaints. These complaints were against senior politicians in the LDP faction led by former prime minister Shinzo Abe and then chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, concerning a slush fund scandal and the misuse of the Cabinet's secret funds.

But earlier this year, the prosecutors office returned their complaints, claiming that the facts of the crime were not specified.

In these cases, the special investigation squad of the prosecutors office has already conducted searches and seized numerous accounting records, so the facts of the crime should be well-known to the prosecutors. Therefore, this response from the prosecutors office shows either a lack of understanding or a willful disregard for the overwhelming anger of the public, Fujita said at a news conference on Tuesday.

"Ordinary people are forced to pay higher taxes down to the last yen with the introduction of the invoice system. Meanwhile, LDP politicians can obtain millions of yen under the guise of political funds through fundraising party ticket sales, use this money for personal extravagances, and engage in all sorts of unacceptable behavior that defies common sense," Fujita said.

The LDP will hold its upcoming leadership election on Sept 27, and Fujita is worried that the scandal might be lost under the hype surrounding the election.

"If the LDP presidential election is going to dominate the media, we strongly hope that the slush fund and tax evasion scandal will be made the main theme of the election," he said.

The prosecution has repeatedly stated that it will not pursue this case, citing reasons such as unspecified facts. However, ordinary citizens lack the authority or resources to conduct investigations and can only file complaints based on the evidence they possess. The prosecution should be investigating and bringing charges based on these complaints, said Akihiko Ohaguchi, a lawyer representing the complainants.

"The way the prosecution and police are protecting the government's interests is evident… As citizens, we must strongly criticize such actions by the prosecution," Ohaguchi said.

Naohiko Hasegawa, another member of Fujita's legal team, said they filed two criminal complaints regarding this matter, but both were quickly returned on the grounds that the facts were not specified.

"It appears that from the beginning, there was no intention to address the slush fund issue seriously. The matter seems to be handled with minimal effort, with only lower-level figures being targeted, while key influential members of the LDP remain untouched," Hasegawa said.

Shigeaki Koga, a policy analyst and former official of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said people want the rules governing political funds to be fundamentally reformed to ensure transparency and fairness so that such incidents never happen again.

"From the public's viewpoint, (Prime Minister Fumio) Kishida's resignation is not so much appreciated as it is considered too late," Koga said. "Moreover, even if a new leader is introduced, the public still cannot see any substantial change at this stage, and it is unlikely that they will, so the LDP might fail to regain the trust of the public."