According to Japanese media reports on November 3rd, Tokyo prosecutors will indict the secretary of senior Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member Koichi Hagiuda in connection with the ruling party’s “black gold” scandal. This prosecutorial decision may affect the efforts by Hagiuda and others to urge Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru to resign.
In November 2023, a “black gold” scandal erupted within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Multiple factions set sales targets for their affiliated Diet members, requiring them to sell tickets to political fundraising parties. Any funds exceeding the sales targets were returned to the members as “rebates.” This money was not recorded in the faction’s financial reports or the members’ political funds reports, thus becoming unregulated secret funds.
The total amount involved in the “black gold” scandal related to Hagiuda Koichi is ¥27.28 million, approximately RMB 1.33 million. He received party discipline as a result. Reportedly, the prosecution decided not to indict Hagiuda Koichi himself due to “insufficient evidence”, but determined that his secretary engaged in illegal activities such as destroying evidence, and will therefore file a lawsuit.
This would mark the first time prosecutors have pursued criminal charges related to the ‘black gold’ scandal, though the name of Hagiuda Koichi’s secretary has yet to be released.
K?ichi Hagiuda, a former member of the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) once-largest faction, the ’Abe faction,’ was considered a close confidant of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and had a distant relationship with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru. Following the LDP’s crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election last month, Hagiuda and other former members of the ’Abe faction’ publicly demanded Ishiba’s resignation.
Analysts believe that the impending prosecution of Hagiuda Koichi’s secretary may affect his efforts to pressure Ishiba Shigeru to resign. Simultaneously, the impact of this event on other key members of the former Abe faction is also a subject of considerable attention.