The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, said the mother of the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a member of the religious group, but denied claims that it had forced her to make large donations that eventually led her into bankruptcy.

The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, reportedly harbored a grudge against Abe over what he believed were the lawmaker’s ties to the group. Yamagami had come to believe "unreliable" information found on the internet that Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, had helped bring the group into Japan, Kyodo News reported, citing investigative sources, and had focused his hostility on Abe.

Local media have quoted authorities as saying that the attack, which took place in broad daylight near a train station in the city of Nara and sent shock waves across Japan and the globe, had long been planned by Yamagami.

Tomihiro Tanaka, head of the Japan branch of the Unification Church, told a televised news conference Monday that the group was aware of the mother’s bankruptcy but denied forcing her to continue donations. Yamagami himself, Tanaka said, had not been a member.

He said the mother had joined the group around 1998 and went bankrupt around 2002. From around 2009 until 2017, she had not been involved with the group, but returned around two or three years ago and has been attending the group’s events about once a month for the last six months or so, he said.

The group itself had faced questions over its donations system in the past, but denied having any such trouble since 2009, when its head at the time acknowledged the past problems and pledged to comply with the relevant laws.

Tanaka refrained from further comment on the donation issue due to the ongoing investigation, but said the group would “fully cooperate” with authorities and would take “a comprehensive look” at the situation when deciding whether to announce the amount the mother had donated.

As for Abe’s ties to the group, Tanaka said the late former prime minister had been close to a “friendship group” — which he differentiated from the organization itself — but said he was never a member or adviser to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

"This is my speculation, but I think (Yamagami) didn't distinguish between our group and the friendship group,” Tanaka said. “He thought that because the founders were the same, everything looked the same."

His group and the related groups, Tanaka added, have separate purposes and visions.

"If he understood that, he wouldn't have seen them as connected to us," he said.

Abe is reported to have delivered messages in past years to a so-called friendship group known as the Universal Peace Federation.

Yamagami has denied that the shooting was politically motivated, telling police he chose to make an attempt on the former Liberal Democratic Party leader's life after initially planning to target an executive of the group.

The Unification Church, known for its deeply conservative views, originated in South Korea but has recruited a large number of followers in Japan and built relationships with politicians worldwide, including former U.S. President Donald Trump. Early on, the group was known for its staunch anti-communist stance. It has also garnered headlines for its mass wedding ceremonies.

Kishi, a heavyweight within the LDP who served as prime minister from 1957 to 1960 and died in 1987, is said to have been involved with the founding of a political group linked to the religious body. According to “Machiavelli's Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan,” a book by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and Japan scholar Richard Samuels, the group’s Tokyo headquarters was built on land once owned by Abe’s grandfather.

Yet while there have been claims of a relationship between the group and the LDP, it’s uncertain whether Abe's grandfather actually invited the group to Japan.

Tanaka, however, denied this was the case, saying the group took root organically.

“I think it is unlikely that Prime Minister Kishi made any special arrangement or had any special influence on that movement,” he said.

The government’s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, said Monday that the administration has been told there were flaws in Abe’s security arrangements, including on the part of the National Police Agency, which oversees police departments nationwide. The case will be reviewed by the National Public Safety Commission.

Matsuno’s comments echoed those of the Nara Prefectural Police head, who said late Saturday that it was “undeniable” that there had been “problems” with Abe’s security.

As part of plans to kill Abe, Yamagami had used YouTube videos to make the weapon that struck down the former prime minister, while also testing the gun at a facility linked to a religious group, Kyodo reported, citing investigative sources.

Asked about the test-firing, Tanaka said he could not confirm that it had taken place at one of the group’s facilities, since it reportedly took place early in the morning when no members were around.

Multiple homemade guns similar to the one used to kill Abe were confiscated from Yamagami's home, with the weapon used Friday "designed to fire six projectiles at a time." Composed of two metal pipes held together with tape and employing projectiles placed in small plastic shells fired from both barrels, the weapon was comparable to a shotgun, Kyodo reported.

Local media reports also said multiple wooden boards, measuring around 1 square meter each, with holes apparently made during test-firing, had been found in Yamagami's car.

The suspect also reportedly told investigators that an aluminum-covered tray found in the vehicle had been used to "dry gunpowder.” Yamagami was also quoted as saying he had attempted to make a bomb, and he appears to have gone through a process of trial and error to produce such a device.

Information from Kyodo added