A lawmaker couple -- former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife, Anri, who are at the center of a vote buying scandal -- gave a total of 2 million yen to a former Hiroshima prefectural assembly president, according to sources.
Prosecutors are investigating 94 people over the suspected vote buying for the House of Councillors election last July in which Anri Kawai, 46, won a seat. According to the sources, the couple offered cash to about 20 of the 94 people on several occasions, in increments of 50,000 yen to 1 million yen at any one time.
The 2 million yen offered to the 77-year-old former Hiroshima prefectural assembly president, Nobuya Okuhara, is the highest amount given by the couple to one individual. Okuhara admitted to The Yomiuri Shimbun that he had received the money.
Last week, House of Representatives member Katsuyuki Kawai, 57, was arrested by a special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of violating the Public Offices Election Law by offering a total of about 25.7 million yen to 94 local assembly members and others between late March and early August last year for the purpose of buying votes, shortly after his wife was chosen as a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the Hiroshima prefectural constituency. Anri Kawai is also arrested on suspicion of conspiring with him to pay a total of 1.7 million yen to five people.
The Kawais have left the LDP amid the scandal.
According to the sources, the 94 people questioned by prosecutors include about 40 local politicians, such as Hiroshima prefectural and city assembly members, Hatsukaichi city assembly members and Kitahiroshima town assembly members as well as two local leaders -- one mayor of an eastern Hiroshima city and Shinji Kosaka, a former Akiota mayor who resigned in April this year -- and the couple's supporters.
Last year, Katsuyuki Kawai gave 500,000 yen to Okuhara in April and 1 million yen in June, while his wife handed him 500,000 yen in May, according to the sources. The former justice minister is suspected of offering 500,000 yen in March and 1 million yen in June to the mayor of the eastern Hiroshima city.
On Tuesday, Okuhara admitted to The Yomiuri Shimbun that he had received from the couple a total of 2 million yen on three occasions. Asked about the purpose of the money, Okuhara said, "I had no idea, as the two didn't explain it."
Okuhara said that out of the 2 million yen, he used 500,000 yen and 1.5 million yen was processed as a donation based on the Political Funds Control Law.
On the other hand, the mayor of the eastern Hiroshima city told reporters, "I don't know anything about that." The mayor also denied receiving the cash at the city assembly on Tuesday.
The special investigative squad and the Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office suspects that the couple adjusted the frequency of cash handouts and the amount of the money depending on the recipients' influence.
Katsuyuki Kawai has admitted to offering cash to local politicians, supporters and relevant others, while telling the special squad investigators, "There are some parts I don't remember."
Anri Kawai also reportedly denied the allegations, saying, "I don't remember doing anything illegal."
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