The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is expected to indict without arrest former lawmaker Akira Ishii for alleged fraud involving state-paid salaries of a secretary, sources said Tuesday.
Ishii, previously a lawmaker in the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament, is believed to have defrauded the state of some ¥8 million by registering as a public secretary a male relative working for a social welfare service corporation headed by Ishii for a year and a half from 2021.
Speaking voluntarily to investigators, the relative said he was not working as a state-paid secretary. The staff of Ishii's office apparently managed the salaries paid to his bank account and used the money to cover expenses.
Ishii, 68, has been expelled from opposition force Nippon Ishin no Kai over the scandal.
The prosecutors office raided Ishii's office in the city of Toride in Ibaraki Prefecture, his office in the Upper House lawmaker's building in Tokyo and other related locations Aug. 27.
On Aug. 29, Ishii announced his resignation as a lawmaker, promising to fully cooperate with the investigation. His resignation was approved by the Upper House on Sept. 1.
After serving as a member of Toride Municipal Assembly, Ishii was elected to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, in 2009 for the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan.
In the 2016 Upper House election, he ran from then Osaka Ishin no Kai. He quit during his second term.
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