Tokyo prosecutors on Monday raided the offices of a political group of the Japan Dental Association and searched the home of the group's top executive over the alleged failure to report 20 million yen in political donations in 2001 and 2002.
Sources said agents of the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office searched the home of Sadao Usuda, JDA president and head of the political group, in Mitaka, western Tokyo, as well as other facilities.
The JDA is a major contributor to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Prosecutors have questioned Usuda and other JDA executives and are also investigating large, unspecified expenditures made by the political group, the sources said.
The group allegedly violated the Political Funds Control Law by failing to report a total of 20 million yen in donations it made to former LDP House of Representatives member Yukihiro Yoshida in 2001 and 2002, the sources said. Yoshida lost his re-election bid in the Nov. 9 general election last year.
The donations were recorded by Yoshida's fund-management body and an LDP branch in Aichi Prefecture that he represented.
The dentists' political group reported 30 million yen in donations that were not recorded, the sources said.