Prosecutors are unlikely to build a criminal case against key members of the largest faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in connection with a political fundraising scandal that has rocked the LDP, sources close to the matter have said.
The LDP has been under intense scrutiny as the faction, formerly headed by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is suspected of having failed to report hundreds of millions of yen in revenue from fundraising parties and accumulated slush funds over a five-year period through 2022.
The Tokyo prosecutors have been investigating whether lawmakers from the intraparty group have colluded with the faction's accountant in violation of the political funds control law, and apparently see no objective evidence of such collusion, the sources said Saturday.