Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida apologized Thursday for a political funds scandal involving his Liberal Democratic Party in front of a parliamentary panel on the issue.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a session of the House of Representatives political ethics committee in Tokyo on Feb. 29, 2024. (Pool photo)(Kyodo)
During a televised session of the House of Representatives political ethics committee, Kishida also pledged to promote reforms to restore the public’s trust in politics, saying, “I will continue taking a leading role.”
Kishida became the first incumbent prime minister to attend the deliberative council on political ethics, last held in July 2009. The committee is responsible for examining the political and moral conduct of lawmakers who face allegations of wrongdoing.
The LDP, which has been in power for most of the period since 1955, has come under intense scrutiny amid allegations that some of its factions neglected to report portions of their incomes from fundraising parties and created slush funds for years.
Kishida urged party members accused of being involved with the slush funds to provide explanations as to how they used the unreported money, while stressing the need to amend the political funds control law to ensure similar scandals do not occur again.
His presenting himself to the panel comes as his government aims to secure the swift passage of a draft budget for the next fiscal year starting in April. Diet deliberations on the budget proposal have stalled against the backdrop of a stalemate over the committee hearings.
On Wednesday, Kishida abruptly announced that he will appear before the committee with the media in attendance, in an apparent attempt to break the impasse in negotiations to convene the council.
The first lower house ethics committee in 15 years was due to be called from Wednesday but was delayed after the ruling and opposition parties clashed over whether the media would be allowed to attend its hearings.
The LDP had said five lawmakers at the center of the slush funds scandal had expressed their readiness to attend the hearings, but opted for a closed-door format, drawing a backlash from the opposition parties.
In the wake of Kishida’s announcement that he would attend the committee’s meeting, the politicians, including four from the largest LDP faction formally led by the late Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, decided to follow suit.
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