LDP Releases Proposals for Revising Political Fund Control Law
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) released proposals on April 23rd to revise the Political Fund Control Law in response to the unreported funds scandal. However, the proposals have been met with criticism for not addressing several key issues.
One proposal is to require "letters of confirmation" to ensure that political fund balance reports are accurate. Additionally, if accounting officials are found guilty of misstatements, their lawmaker bosses would also face punishment, including the suspension of their civil rights.
The LDP was initially hesitant to implement these proposals, particularly the "guilty-by-association" system. However, they changed their stance due to heavy criticism.
The scandal involved LDP factions returning money to individual lawmakers from ticket sales for fundraising events. This money was not reported as income or revenue in their political fund reports. Many lawmakers claimed they were unaware of the omission, placing the blame solely on accounting officials.
However, criticism grew that politicians were evading responsibility. To address this, the LDP proposal requires lawmakers to issue letters of confirmation after reviewing the fund reports prepared by accounting officials.
The proposals also include a mechanism to hold lawmakers accountable if accounting officials are found guilty of making false statements. However, this only applies if the lawmakers issued letters of confirmation without sufficient checks.
The LDP also proposes adding income to the list of expenditures subject to external audits. However, they did not include the establishment of a third-party organization for conducting these audits, as requested by opposition parties.
The LDP's proposals have been criticized for not addressing several key issues, such as banning corporate donations and requiring disclosure on the use of policy activity funds.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aims to revise the law during the current Diet session. However, discussions are expected to be difficult due to the differences between the LDP's proposals and those of its coalition partner and opposition parties.