Forty-one local assembly members felt compelled to return or correct their expenses for political activities because they involved in matters concerning the Unification Church, according to The Asahi Shimbun.
Local government grants local assembly members with funding for political activities to support policy planning research, courtesy of taxpayers.
The members of the assembly can use the money to purchase materials or cover activities that are designated as training as well as inspection tours.
In December 2022, The Asahi Shimbun surveyed 1,788 local assemblies and received responses from all of them by the following month.
In 18 instances, there was at least one case of a local assembly member returning or correcting his or her expenses for political activities.
The 18 local assemblies included nine prefectures, Tokyo, four government-designated cities and four cities.
The Asahi Shimbun also learned that the prefectural assemblies of Tochigi, Nagano and Hiroshima had similar cases.
A total of 1.54 million yen $11,780 was returned or corrected from fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2022.
There were fees to participate in church-related meetings, transportation costs to the venues, membership fees for church-related organizations and the purchase of church-related publications.
All of the returns and corrections were made after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who later emerged as a staunch supporter of the church, was fatally shot while campaigning in Nara city in July 2022.
Many of the assembly members who altered their expenses told The Asahi Shimbun they did so in order to not cause any misunderstanding. There are assembly members who chalked up similar church-related expenses but have yet to do anything about it.
Some of the respondents said they did not think there was a problem with the content of the meetings in which they participated.
If a politician spends their political funds in an improper manner, he or she must correct their statement of expenses and return money to the local government.
The issue of returning the money does not occur when the amount spent exceeds the sum provided. The politician is only required to correct his or her statement.