Sizable omissions in political funding reports by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party took center stage in parliamentary debate on Tuesday and Wednesday as opposition lawmakers questioned the government and sounded the alarm over widespread misconduct.

According to earlier media reports, the special investigation branch of the Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s Office has started inquiring into the matter following a criminal complaint stating that the five largest factions of the LDP had failed to report income earned from fundraising parties, with this totaling approximately ¥40 million ($270,000).

Wednesday’s parliamentary session began 50 minutes behind schedule due to the ruling party's refusal to comply with the opposition's requests for more transparency over the investigation.

In early remarks to the committee, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida — LDP president and chair of the party’s fourth-largest faction — said he had instructed the party’s Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi to ask each faction to provide a suitable explanation on the specific details of the corrections made to their earlier reports.

“I am aware that we should take appropriate measures to prevent this from happening again in the future,” Kishida said, after the party refused to comment on the matter for days on the grounds the issue was still under investigation. “As a party we’ll make sure that the public won’t have any (more) doubts (about the LDP).”

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yoshihiko Noda, prime minister from 2011 to 2012, said he didn’t perceive any sense of urgency in the way Kishida had been handling the matter.

“Scandals on money and politics have become frequent,” Noda said. “This might only be the tip of the iceberg. Going back in time, there’s a possibility that these things have been conducted on a continuous and systematic basis.”

The Political Funds Control Act stipulates that a political group hosting a fundraising party must report the name, address and occupation of every participant — including private organizations or other groups — who donate a sum higher than ¥200,000. Donors are prohibited from giving more than ¥1.5 million to the same political association in a single party.

These norms were introduced to increase transparency and accountability over the usage of political funds and to regulate private-sector donations to political parties at a time of rampant scandals and widespread corruption in the political world.

This time, according to the complaint, the LDP’s five largest factions failed to report additional income earned in fundraising parties hosted from 2018 to 2021. The faction that was led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the largest in the party, underreported funds amounting to a total of ¥19.46 million.

The matter affects sitting members of the Kishida Cabinet directly.

Economic revitalization minister Yoshitaka Shindo currently serves as general secretary of the Motegi faction, while both Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura previously served in the same position in the Abe faction.

Failure to report the acquisition of political funds is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment or a fine of up to ¥1 million. Former LDP lawmaker Kentaro Sonoura was forced to resign from his position last December over his involvement in a similar scandal.

In parliament, Noda continued criticizing Kishida, arguing that this lack of transparency, together with the unusual amount of hereditary politicians in the LDP, exacerbate the public’s distrust in politics. While the prime minister said he always tries to choose "the right people for the right job," too many of them come from political dynasties, Noda said.

“I think it is an unusual situation that all 'the right people' including the prime minister, are hereditary politicians,” he said. “Of course, you might say that they are elected by the people, but I wonder if the result is a good thing.”

The debate later moved on to economic measures and monetary policy. Noda pointed out that, while the Bank of Japan maintains its ultraeasy policy, in practice leading to higher prices, the government is making every possible effort to tackle the impact of rising inflation.

“This is incoherent. Do you want to raise or lower prices?” Noda asked the prime minister.

Kishida replied with a familiar refrain: “We are communicating with the BOJ in order to achieve the goals of economic growth with structural wage increases and price stability in a sustainable and stable manner, and I believe that there is no contradiction.”