LDP Faction Accountant Admits to Charges over Funds Scandal

Tokyo, May 10 (Jiji Press)--The chief accountant of a faction in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party broadly admitted in court on Friday to charges against him over a high-profile political funds scandal involving LDP factions.

Junichiro Matsumoto, 76, who is accused of failing to report about 675 million yen in the faction's revenues in violation of the political funds control law, was the first of those indicted over the money scandal to appear in a court.

His first court hearing was held on the day at Tokyo District Court, presided over by Judge Yasunobu Hosoya.

In the scandal, the LDP faction, once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, set sales quotas for fundraising party tickets for member lawmakers, and distributed the revenues in excess of the quotas to the lawmakers who sold the tickets.

While several faction members kept the excess amounts instead of paying them to the faction, Matsumoto denied during the day's court hearing that he was aware of such a practice.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]