The political funds scandal involving Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his mother has spread to his brother, Kunio, who also apparently received vast sums from her.
Sources said Wednesday that Kunio Hatoyama, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who held Cabinet minister portfolios, received some of the ¥3.6 billion that was withdrawn from bank accounts registered in the name of his 87-year-old mother from 2003 to 2008.
Yukio Hatoyama, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, was reported to have received a total of ¥900 million over the five years to 2008 and some of the money may have been recorded as donations from fictitious donors in his political funds report.