Attempts by opposition parties to rattle Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during the ongoing Diet session in connection with political funding reports have proved fruitless.
Yet the Diet debates have illustrated at least one thing: The Political Funds Control Law has yet another loophole.
Koizumi has been grilled over the roughly 5 million yen in "office expenses" spent annually by a political group represented by his younger brother, Masaya. Between 2000 and 2003, Koizumi's own fund management body donated around 18 million yen to 20 million yen every year to this group.