Prosecutors indicted Yukihiro Yoshida, a former Diet member from the Liberal Democratic Party, and seven others Tuesday on charges of buying votes with money that came from the Japan Dental Association.
Charged with giving checks to local assembly members in violation of the Public Offices Election Law were Yoshida, 43, who lost his Diet seat in the House of Representatives election last November; Hirotake Uchida, 63, former director of the dentist group; and Yasushi Miwa, 60, head of the Aichi prefectural dentist association.
The other five are three members of the Aichi Prefectural Assembly and two members of the Nagoya Municipal Assembly.