An inquest panel comprised of citizens said Friday that 35 people should be indicted over vote-buying by former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai for his wife, Anri Kawai, in the 2019 Upper House election.
Following the panel's conclusion, Tokyo prosecutors will re-investigate the case after they decided in July not to indict 100 individuals, mostly local politicians, suspected of receiving cash from Katsuyuki Kawai, who led the Justice Ministry under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The panel said it has determined that 35 of the 100 should be indicted as many of them were in public office and received ¥100,000 or more.
Katsuyuki Kawai was given a three-year prison term and a fine of ¥1.3 million for handing out a total of ¥28.7 million to 100 local assembly members and supporters in a ploy to buy votes in his wife Anri Kawai's constituency in Hiroshima Prefecture.
The 58-year-old became the first former Cabinet member in over 10 years to have a prison term finalized.
Anri Kawai, who won a seat in the 2019 election, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for five years, for also distributing money to local legislators in the prefecture. The ruling was finalized in February last year.
The inquest body said that punishing only the Kawais and not prosecuting recipients would send a message that accepting cash for votes is not a serious crime.
The 100 allegedly received between ¥50,000 and ¥3 million, with 22 accepting cash on multiple occasions.
When the Tokyo District Court handed down the ruling to the former justice minister in June last year, he immediately appealed the decision but later retracted the appeal, saying in a statement, "The responsibility is solely on me, and I am ready to accept it all."
He also said, "I ask for leniency on the people who have accepted cash."