LDP Proposes Revisions to 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 drawn criticism for not addressing several key issues.
One proposal is the requirement of "letters of confirmation" to verify the accuracy of political fund balance reports. Additionally, if accounting officials are penalized for misstatements in these reports, their lawmaker bosses would also face punishment, including the suspension of their civil rights.
Initially, the LDP was hesitant to implement these proposals, particularly the "guilty-by-association" system. However, they changed their stance due to heavy criticism from both within and outside the party.
The scandal involved LDP factions returning money to individual lawmakers from ticket sales for faction fundraising events. This money was not reported as income or revenue in their political fund reports.
Many of the lawmakers involved claimed they were unaware of the missing funds, placing the blame solely on the accounting officials. However, most of the unlisted funds came from the Abe faction, and only three Abe faction lawmakers and one accounting official were charged in the case. This led to criticism that politicians were evading responsibility.
To address this issue, the LDP proposal requires lawmakers to issue letters of confirmation after reviewing the fund reports prepared by accounting officials. The officials would also be required to submit the reports and the written confirmations.
The LDP proposals also include a mechanism to hold lawmakers accountable if the accounting officials are found guilty of making false statements in the reports. However, this proposal only applies if the lawmakers issued letters of confirmation without sufficient checks. The specific manner in which the confirmation would be carried out remains unclear.
Regarding external audits of fund reports, the current policy only covers expenditures of political organizations related to Diet members. The LDP proposals propose adding income to the list. However, they do not include the establishment of a third-party organization, which opposition parties have been calling for to ensure thorough audits.
The LDP proposals have been criticized for not addressing several long-standing calls for political reform and closing loopholes in the Political Fund Control Law. For example, the party did not propose a ban on donations from corporations and organizations, nor did they require disclosure on the use of policy activity funds, which currently do not need to be reported.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aims to revise the law during the current Diet session. However, negotiations are expected to be difficult due to the differences between the LDP's proposal and those of its coalition partner, Komeito, and opposition parties.