The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Lower House member Yoshitaka Ikeda and an aide on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law by giving false statements. Prosecutors alleged that Ikeda, 57, and Kazuhiro Kakinuma, 45, failed to list excess income totaling 48.26 million yen ($326,600) as donations in their political fund balance reports.
Ikeda Reimei-kai, a political fund management organization chaired by Ikeda, reportedly received the money from the Liberal Democratic Party’s Abe faction over five years, from 2018 to 2022. Before prosecutors raided Ikeda's houses and offices in December, his aide had destroyed several computers in his Nagoya office using a screwdriver-like tool.
Prosecutors believed the computers contained accounting-related data and that Ikeda had ordered their destruction. They also suspected that documents had been destroyed. These actions were seen as attempts to destroy evidence, leading to the arrests of Ikeda and Kakinuma on January 7.
Ikeda was a member of the LDP’s largest Abe faction, headed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe until his assassination in 2022, before being expelled. On January 19, prosecutors brought indictments and summary indictments against eight people connected to the Abe, Nikai, and Kishida factions. The investigation concluded with a total of 10 indictments, including Ikeda and his aide.