Fukuoka Pref. Assembly Head Kurauchi to Resign as Member

Fukuoka, Aug. 24 (Jiji Press)--Fukuoka prefectural assembly head Isao Kurauchi said in a statement Monday that he will resign as a member of the assembly of the southwestern Japan prefecture.

His announcement came at a time when the prefectural assembly has been rocked by a high-profile money scandal.

Kurauchi, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, the country’s ruling party, said that he will quit as an assembly member after ending his job as head of the National Association of Chairpersons of Prefectural Assemblies at Tuesday’s meeting of the group to be held in Tokyo.

Former heads and former deputy heads of the Fukuoka assembly have stated that they had paid large sums of cash to senior officials of the LDP group in the assembly before assuming their posts.

Criticism has been growing both in and outside the prefecture although Kurauchi and others have denied receiving such money.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]