Hakubun Shimomura, former policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Tuesday that he did not request kickback practices at an LDP faction be resumed after they were once suspended in April 2022.
Speaking as a witness at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, Shimomura said the resumption was not decided at an executive meeting in August 2022.
In a hearing in February, a former chief accountant of the now-defunct faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that "a faction executive" asked for the restart of the kickback system in July 2022, and the resumption was decided at an executive meeting in August of the same year.
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