In another blow to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the ruling coalition, the House of Representatives Steering Committee agreed Thursday to have the full chamber vote on a request to arrest LDP lawmaker Takanori Sakai over alleged political fund law violations.
Investigators suspect that Sakai violated the Political Funds Control Law by ordering his secretaries not to report 120 million yen in donations from several firms between 1997 and 2001.
The committee was expected to unanimously approve the request by prosecutors, delivered via Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama, at a session Friday. The motion will then be brought to a vote in a plenary session later Friday, where it will almost certainly be approved.