Fumio Kishida becomes first sitting Japan PM to face ethics committee over funding scandal

Fumio Kishida, on Thursday (Feb 29) became the first sitting Japanese prime minister to appear before a parliamentary ethics committee where he vowed to end political fundraising parties amid an investigation into a major kickbacks scandal. The alleged misconduct by Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the past few months has also hurt his popularity and may delay next year’s budget.

Kishida’s appearance before the ethics committee

The incumbent PM’s historic appearance before the parliamentary committee was televised and came after weeks of wrangling between the ruling LDP and the opposition parties on the technicalities of how to hold the hearings.

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The opposition had demanded a public hearing of the scandal and the ruling party had sought a closed session.

The investigation will look into how some members of the LDP failed to report hundreds of millions of yen received from fundraising parties. The case is said to be one of the biggest financial scandals to hit the ruling party in decades.

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The scandal stems from alleged payments to members of the ruling which exceeded ticket sales quotas for fundraising events. So far, two LDP lawmakers have been charged with breaking political funding laws and three of its biggest factions have been dissolved due to the scandal.

“As the LDP leader, I apologise from my heart that this fundraising issue has raised suspicion and caused distrust in politics among the people,” said the Japanese PM in his opening remarks.

While Kishida himself is not implicated, he said that he would not host any more fundraising parties during his term as the PM.

“It is my intention that I will not hold these parties during my time as prime minister,” Kishida told the committee.

He also vowed to revise the political funding law which holds those involved in the scandal – both accountants and lawmakers – to be held accountable for their finances.

Prosecutors in Japan have also launched a criminal investigation into the scandal.

Scandal affects Kishida’s popularity and country’s budget

A poll conducted in early February by NHK shows that support for Kishida (25 per cent) and his ruling LDP (30 per cent) dipped to its lowest point since the incumbent PM took office in 2021.

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The debate about the hearings also threatened to delay the fiscal 2024 budget, which Kishida hopes to pass in the lower house by March 2.

If passed, it would give him 30 days necessary for a budget to be adopted automatically before the fiscal year starts in April.

“We must not have a situation where the budget is not adopted according to plan,” the Japanese PM told the committee.

(With inputs from agencies)