Japanese Lower House Panel Votes to Summon Ex-LDP Accountant
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Tokyo, Jan. 30 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese House of Representatives committee on Thursday voted to summon a former accountant for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party convicted over a slush funds scandal for unsworn testimony.
Opposition parties voted in favor of a motion to summon the former accountant, Junichiro Matsumoto, to testify about the scandal as an unsworn witness at the Lower House Budget Committee. The LDP voted against it, while its coalition partner, Komeito, walked out before the vote.
The committee's chairman, Jun Azumi of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, aims to hold the hearing around Feb. 10.
But the vote is nonbinding. Matsumoto, who served as a chief accountant of the now-defunct LDP faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has already expressed an intention not to appear before the committee.
The summoning of an individual to testify before parliament as an unsworn witness is usually decided by unanimous approval. It marked the first time in 51 years that such a decision was made by a vote at the Lower House Budget Committee.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]