Japan Opposition Ask for Ethics Panel Review of 44 Lawmakers

Tokyo, May 8 (Jiji Press)--Japanese opposition parties Wednesday asked that a review be held at a parliamentary political ethics panel for 44 lawmakers involved in a political funds scandal that has rocked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Japanese Communist Party made the request to the LDP's Kazunori Tanaka, who heads the Deliberative Council on Political Ethics of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet.

At a meeting of their Diet affairs leaders earlier in the day, the LDP told the CDP that it would support such a request.

With the LDP's support, the review request is expected to be approved at the political ethics council by a majority vote.

But the request would have no binding power. The decision of whether to attend will be left up to the lawmakers themselves.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]