A Liberal Democratic Party chapter and a fund management body headed by former Cabinet minister Kunio Hatoyama paid ¥25.6 million in rent and other expenses for their shared office space to a company owned by his wife between 2011 and 2013, political funding reports showed Monday.

During the same period, both the LDP's Fukuoka No. 6 chapter and his Shinseikai fund management group received taxpayers' money as subsidies.

The practice is not illegal, but some experts call into question the funneling of political funds to a company run by a family member. Hatoyama, a former communications minister, is a member of the Lower House.

His office said it does not see "any problems at all." The two organizations share their office in a building in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, owned by a real estate company in Tokyo headed by the former minister's wife.

According to political funding reports for the three years through 2013, the group paid ¥4.28 million for five months of rent and a rent deposit in December 2011. From then on, either the group or the local chapter paid ¥651,000 in rent every month on top of telephone and car leasing fees, bringing the total to ¥25.6 million.

The fund management body received a combined ¥15.6 million in political subsidies in 2011 and 2012, while the LDP chapter received ¥12 million in 2013.