Kishida Questions LDP's Nishimura, Seko over Money Scandal

   Tokyo, March 27 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Wednesday questioned two former senior members of the party's largest faction over a high-profile money scandal.
   Former industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and Hiroshige Seko, former LDP secretary-general in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the country's parliament, were questioned at a hotel in Tokyo, a session also attended by LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and General Council Chairman Hiroshi Moriyama.
   On Tuesday, Kishida questioned two other senior Abe faction members--former LDP General Council Chairman Ryu Shionoya and former Policy Research Council Chairman Hakubun Shimomura. The faction was once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
   In April 2022, then faction leader Abe decided to abolish the practice of handing out kickbacks from fundraising party revenues to faction members. The scheme, however, was maintained following talks among the four senior faction members in August of the same year, after Abe's death.
   Kishida told reporters after Wednesday's questioning that additional probes will be made, but he declined to mention who would be the subject of the additional investigations.

(2024/03/27-21:38)

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