Local politicians in the constituency of upper house lawmaker Anri Kawai have told prosecutors that they had been offered cash by Kawai and her husband Katsuyuki Kawai, a lower house lawmaker, in an alleged vote-buying scandal, according to sources.
About 100 people including the local politicians are believed to have been the target of the vote buying. The vast majority of them who submitted to voluntary questioning by prosecutors said they were offered cash by the Kawais, the sources said.
Anri Kawai, 46, was first elected to the House of Councillors last July in the Hiroshima Constituency, and her 57-year-old husband, who resigned as justice minister when the scandal first emerged last year, represents Hiroshima Constituency No. 3. Both belong to the Liberal Democratic Party.
The Kawais have submitted letters offering to leave the LDP, sources close to the party said Wednesday. The LDP intends to accept their offers.
Following the end of the current Diet session on Wednesday, prosecutors are expected to conduct a full-fledged investigation into the Kawais on suspicion of violating the Public Offices Election Law, as suspicions have increased that the couple offered cash to local politicians, expecting them to collect votes for the upper house election.
During the Golden Week holiday period through early May, the couple denied the allegations during questioning by prosecutors. In front of reporters, the Kawais have also denied any involvement in wrongdoing.
According to the sources, the couple allegedly handed over cash to about 100 people, such as Hiroshima prefectural and city assembly members and municipal heads, under the pretense of "encouragement money," "congratulatory gift" or other occasions. This allegedly occurred before and after the unified local elections, which included a prefectural assembly election, in April last year. The alleged total amount of cash exceeded 20 million yen. Katsuyuki Kawai allegedly handed over most of the money, though some were allegedly handed over by Anri Kawai, the sources said.
The alleged recipients included local politicians who had no dealings in the form of donations or cash with the couple in the past. One prefectural assembly member told The Yomiuri Shimbun that Katsuyuki Kawai allegedly visited the member's home during prefectural election campaigning and presented 300,000 yen as "encouragement money."
"Such things happened for the first time," the assembly member said. "I wondered why Mr. Kawai brought the money as we're not close to each other."
The member said the alleged cash was later returned to Katsuyuki Kawai.
In May last year, another prefectural assembly member was allegedly asked by Anri Kawai to meet and was given cash as "congratulatory gift" in the waiting room of the prefectural assembly, according to this person.
The assembly member had never exchanged money or gifts with Anri Kawai before, saying, "I got the impression she was seeking support." This person said the alleged cash offering was not accepted.
To investigate the allegations further, prosecutors from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad and others were sent to the Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office in March this year to question about 100 local politicians and others who are believed to have been offered cash by the couple. Of the vast majority of those questioned who said they were offered cash, these two prefectural assembly members said they explained the alleged circumstances during questioning.
Cases of vote-buying that violate the Public Offices Election Law focus on the purpose money was provided. The above two prefectural assembly members have been elected several times and said they had never been offered money from the couple in past elections. In light of this, the prosecutors suspect the cash was intended to buy votes in the upper house election that Anri Kawai won.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
