Amid strong protests, the ruling coalition rammed through a House of Representatives panel Wednesday a bill requiring that lawmakers' fund management bodies report all office expenses exceeding 50,000 yen, hoping to quell the furor over last month's suicide of corruption scandal-tainted farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka.
The bill by the ruling bloc — the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito — to revise the Political Funds Control Law was submitted to the Diet on May 30, just two days after the suicide of Matsuoka, who had been under fire in part for listing extremely high office expenses for a rent-free office supplied by the government that had all utilities paid for.
The Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, had submitted its own bill two months ago that would have required reporting of any expenses topping 10,000 yen by all political bodies linked with lawmakers, not just fund management groups. That bill was voted down Wednesday by the ruling bloc in the same panel session.