A town mayor admitted Thursday to having received cash last year from veteran lawmaker Katsuyuki Kawai, who is involved in money misuse allegations related to his wife's Upper House campaign.
Akiota Mayor Shinji Kosaka became the first municipal leader in Hiroshima Prefecture, from which Kawai and his wife Anri are both elected officials, to admit to having received cash from Katsuyuki, who took the post of justice minister in a Cabinet reshuffle after the July 2019 Upper House election.
Kosaka said he received an envelope containing ¥200,000 ($1,900) in cash from Kawai at Kosaka's home around late April 2019 after Anri was approved as a House of Councilors candidate on the ticket of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.