The office of indicted lawmaker Muneo Suzuki illegally paid the restaurant bills of a former Foreign Ministry bureaucrat -- who is also under arrest -- by disguising them as political activity expenses at Suzuki's political fund management organization, sources said Wednesday.
The concealed payments, through which Russia expert Masaru Sato allegedly received more than 10 million yen a year, violated the Political Funds Control Law, the sources said.
Prosecutors have also found that 36 million yen was diverted from Suzuki's fund management body -- 21 Seiki Seisaku Kenkyukai -- to help him pay for a house in Tokyo's upmarket Minami-Aoyama district.