(Text by Observer Network, Guo Guanghao)
Professor Sōsuke Yokoyama of Kobe University in Japan announced on social media that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his first secretary, Masayuki Mizushima, are suspected of violating the Political Funds Act by falsifying reports on political funds receipts. Professor Yokoyama has filed a complaint with the Nara District Public Prosecutors' Office regarding these issues.
Let’s first talk about who Shang Xiu Zhen is, and why he “dared” to expose his former Prime Minister.
Uematsu Hiroshi is a professor of law at Kobe University. He is an expert in the field of political funding in Japan. Not only does he conduct research, but he also actively participates in forming a non-governmental organization called the “Political Funding Monitor,” which consists of like-minded lawyers, accountants, scholars, journalists, and other professionals. This organization specializes in investigating the political funding issues of Japanese politicians.
Uekebochi
Uematsu personally served as a representative of the group and also took the initiative to file complaints on several occasions. His most significant achievement was exposing the illegal political funding scandal involving the Abe faction of the Liberal Party. This scandal was first reported by the Japanese Communist Party newspaper "Chusha" in November 2022, and Uematsu began filing complaints with the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office starting from that month. In November 2023, Japanese mainstream media became aware of the seriousness of the situation and began to cover the story, causing the issue to be fully exposed. As a result, the Abe faction suffered a major setback, and the majority of the Liberal Party's factions announced their dissolution.
So what happened to the high market that was targeted by Shangxia this time?
In short, Uematsu obtained some internal account books of the Takashima office from an insider who reported the matter. These "hidden accounts" differ from the publicly available reports on political fundraising transactions: the Takashima team is suspected of registering money received from high-ranking corporate officials for political fundraisers as political donations, with possible false records. At the same time, those who purchase these tickets can use the "political donations" to obtain tax relief, which is considered tax evasion.
According to the data, this type of operation can be traced back to 2011, 15 years ago. It was a long-term and organized act. Therefore, in the complaint and explanation documents, the behavior was identified as “of bad nature”.
Shiya stated that his work was based on reports from two media outlets, the Weekly Munshun and the Chiba. However, the issues exposed by these two media outlets have exceeded the five-year statute of limitations set by Japan’s Political Fund Regulation Law. For the Kashi camp, “more lice mean less itching, more debts mean less worry.” In the worst case, it would merely be a scandal, not illegal activity.
And Professor Uematsu, by comparing the testimonies of the parties involved as reported by the media with the public financial reports for the past five years, concluded that the Gao city camp was also engaged in false record-keeping activities during those five years. This clue was provided to the prosecution, who can then proceed with investigations based on it.
Next, how will it develop? The Japanese prosecution has a significant responsibility.
In 2019, Matsuyoshi held a political donation banquet. Matsuyoshi Sanae took individual action.
This scandal involving the Gao faction was first reported by the Japanese veteran investigative magazine 'Weekly Munshun' at the beginning of this year.
"Weekend Weekly Wenchun" obtained records of political fundraisers for legal firms from relevant sources.
A personnel from a law firm stated: "This list is made by the staff of our law firm, in order to comprehensively grasp all income records for internal use during the political fundraising banquet. It's an extremely confidential document and will not be shared."
This Excel file details the identities, amounts, transfer dates, and introducers of those who purchased banquet tickets in 2011, 2012, and 2019.
In the electronic file attributes, the "last savener" is "t-kinoshita". The director of Takashi Nara Office is named Kinoshi Tsuyoshi. He has long served as Takashi's secretary and is currently the first secretary in the public office.
According to Japanese laws, only events with revenues of 200,000 yen or more need to be disclosed in the financial report. However, this "internal record" includes even small amounts of income. By comparing it with the financial reports on political fund expenditures and interviewing relevant personnel, Shukan Bunshun determined that this list is highly reliable and likely to be an original record within the Takahashi team.
So, what unknown secrets of the Gao Team can be discovered from such an internal 'secret account'?
In the hidden accounts, the note for "New Era Transfer" is particularly important.
The fundraising vouchers for Ms. Takashi were sold in the name of the “Second District Branch of the Liberal Democratic Party in Nara Prefecture”. The “New Era Policy Research Association” is a political fund management organization under the control of Ms. Takashi herself. Both the branch and the research association are represented by Ms. Takashi, with Mochizuki serving as the accounting officer.
"New Era Transfer" refers to funds actually used to purchase entry tickets under the branch name in the second constituency, which are recorded as donations for the New Era Research Society.
Failing to record truthfully is illegal, and false records are even more unlawful. There were 3 such cases in 2011, 13 cases in 2012, and 5 cases in 2019. This frequency clearly cannot be simply attributed to simple mistakes.
Moreover, Japanese taxpayers can benefit from tax incentives for donations made by political parties or political fundraising organizations for political activities. However, money spent on purchasing banquet tickets does not qualify for these incentive policies.
In 2019, records show that A, the president of a construction company in Osaka City, purchased a 1 million yen banquet ticket on February 15th of that year. This purchase was later labeled as “donation for the new era”.
Banquet ticket revenues are recorded as “hidden accounts” (above), while the revenue and expenditure reports are recorded as “public accounts” (below). Weekly Munshun.
A stated in an interview with Weekly Munhuan that he purchased a banquet ticket at that time, and knew that he was registered as a 'political donation'. The purpose was to enjoy tax benefits. 'It has always been the same; every time there is a similar event, it is handled in this way...'
Other participants in "Red Flag" (Sunday Edition) also gave similar testimonies.
Further comparative analysis of the visible and hidden records revealed that the name of this President A also appeared in 2011 and 2012.
According to the survey conducted by Ueshi, the ‘Second Branch’ held banquets almost every year starting from 2011. Only in 2020, 2023, and 2024 did they not hold such events. The president of the construction company donated to the research association in most years, except in 2017. In the years when banquets were not held, there were no records of donations.
Among them, the financial records for 2021 and 2022 show that he donated 1.5 million yen and 600,000 yen respectively.
In 2011, 2012, and 2019, the relevant periods exceeded the five-year statute of limitations stipulated by the Political Funds Regulation Act. Therefore, these cases were not included in the scope of this criminal prosecution. However, to demonstrate the seriousness of their actions, these expired statutes of limitations were still listed in detail in the complaint.
If there is actual tax evasion, then according to the Income Tax Act, the statute of limitations for prosecution is 7 years. Therefore, not only cases from 2022 and 2021, but even the political fund banquet in 2019 still has the possibility of being prosecuted based on the specific investigation results.
