Hiroshige Seko faced questions at the Upper House’s Deliberative Council on Political Ethics concerning the scandal involving the Abe faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Seko, a senior leader of the Abe faction, denied any knowledge of the funds being kept off the books from the sales of tickets to the faction’s fund-raising parties, which has raised concerns over financial transparency within the party.
During the hearing, Seko explained that a rule existed where ticket sales quotas were not assigned to Upper House members running for re-election, leading to money from ticket sales being funneled back to lawmakers when they ran for office again. Despite being counted among the faction’s senior leaders, Seko claimed he was not involved in deciding on this practice and only became aware of it through media reports, indicating a lack of transparency within the faction's financial dealings.
The Abe faction leaders decided to abolish and reinstate the policy of funneling part of revenues from party ticket sales back to member lawmakers, with details surrounding this decision-making process remaining unclear. Sources revealed that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in April 2022, instructed faction leaders to abolish this practice, only for it to be retracted and eventually scrapped following a meeting in August. Seko, who attended these meetings, provided limited information on how these decisions were made, casting doubt on the accountability and transparency within the faction's financial operations.