Kishida makes more LDP leadership changes in bid to restore trust

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tapped two veteran lawmakers Thursday to replace key Liberal Democratic Party executives whose faction is caught up in a political slush fund scandal, in an attempt to clean house and restore public trust.

Former education minister Kisaburo Tokai will replace LDP policy chief Koichi Hagiuda, and former Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada will replace the party’s Diet affairs chair Tsuyoshi Takagi.

Neither Tokai nor Hamada belong to any party faction, in line with Kishida’s attempt to appoint lawmakers not involved in the scandal. The two are expected to be formally appointed Friday when the Cabinet approves the 2024 budget proposal, which needs coordination with the ruling parties beforehand.

"I‘m not elated, but I’ve been entrusted by the prime minister (with the position) and plan to do what I can,” Tokai told reporters on Thursday morning.

In the wake of the political funds scandal, Hagiuda, Takagi and Hiroshige Seko, another party executive, announced last week that they would resign. Seko’s post as the LDP's Upper House secretary-general will remain vacant, with his duties handled by other party lawmakers.

They all belong to the 99-member faction that was led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which is suspected of underreporting about ¥500 million in sales of tickets from fundraising events. Hagiuda, Takagi and Seko face allegations of failing to report kickbacks from those sales.

Tokyo prosecutors have focused their investigation on the Abe faction over allegations it provided ¥500 million in off-the-books kickbacks from the sale of party tickets to faction members who sold more tickets than their allotted quota over a five-year period to 2022. Fundraising tickets and kickbacks are legal, but failing to report them properly violates the political funds law.

Prosecutors suspect that Hagiuda and Takagi may have accepted ¥10 million each in unreported income from the ticket sales.

The changes to the LDP’s top leadership come a week after the prime minister dismissed four key members of his Cabinet who were also senior Abe faction members suspected of receiving unreported funds. The four included Hirokazu Matsuno, who was replaced as chief cabinet secretary by Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Tokyo prosecutors are stepping up their investigation by the day, and have asked Matsuno and other faction executives for voluntary interviews over Matsuno's alleged role in receiving over ¥10 million in kickbacks. As a faction executive, he was in charge of its business affairs from 2019 to 2021.

In addition to the Abe faction, prosecutors are looking at allegations that members of former LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai’s faction also underreported fundraising party ticket sales, to the tune of ¥100 million.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi left the Nikai faction amid criticism that he lacks neutrality in the ongoing investigation. The justice minister has authority under the law to direct the prosecutor-general of the Public Prosecutor's Office with respect to individual cases.

“I’ve decided to resign from the Shisuikai, so as not to create a misunderstanding among the public,” Koizumi told reporters Wednesday, referring to the Nikai faction by its official name.

Asked about whether he had off-the-book income or received kickbacks, Koizumi said only that the matter was being handled properly.

Hanako Jimi, another Nikai faction member who serves as state minister for the 2025 Osaka Kansai Japan Expo, is also facing pressure to leave the faction.