Members of Japan's ruling party's scandal-hit faction indicted by prosecutors

Tokyo, Jan 19 (IANS) Amid an enduring slush fund scandal, Japanese prosecutors on Friday filed charges against several individuals from three factions within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), including the one formerly led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted without arrest the chief treasurers of Seiwaken, the largest LDP faction once led by late former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, and another led by former LDP Secretary-General Nikai Toshihiro were indicted without arrest on Friday, reports Xinhua news agency.

A former accountant of the Kishida faction received a summary indictment for allegedly failing to declare around 30 million yen ($203,000) over the three years through 2020.

All indicted individuals, suspected of failing to report part of the factions' revenue from fundraising events, faced charges of false accounting, in violation of the political funds control law.

The prosecutors also indicted, without arrest, Upper House member Yasutada Ohno, while Lower House member Yaichi Tanigawa received a summary indictment. Both lawmakers had left the LDP as of Friday.

On Friday, Kishida pledged to disband the LDP's fourth-largest faction that he led until last month, in order to restore public trust roiled by the deepening scandal.

Analysts here pointed out that Kishida, by taking the lead in disbanding the faction, hopes to prompt other LDP factions to voluntarily dissolve in order to get himself off the hook, a move that sparked greater confusion and backlash within the party.

Kishida also said during the day that the LDP should come up with new rules on how to properly manage its factions, as the scandal has rattled the ruling party and pushed the approval ratings for his cabinet down sharply, national news agency Kyodo reported.

At the end of last year, in the wake of the unfolding scandal where five major factions were suspected of paying kickbacks to member lawmakers who sold fundraising party tickets above their quota without recording the amount as revenue in its political fund reports, over 10 senior officials or heavyweight lawmakers have stepped down from their positions in Kishida's cabinet or the LDP.

The dismissal of the senior officials, all from Seiwaken, known as the Abe faction, was regarded as a strategic move by Kishida to distance himself and his party from the escalating scandal, which pushed the support ratings for Kishida's cabinet to fresh lows in multiple December surveys, signaling that the administration may be in the "danger zone".

The faction was suspected to have pooled secret funds amounting to around 500 million yen over the past five years.