The former Unification Church is expected to be ordered to dissolve this summer… The “final move” to be made by the church, which has been driven into a tight corner.

He said, “By the end of January or February of ’23, a request for a dissolution order will be filed, and the district court will issue the order as early as summer. The state is seriously moving toward the dissolution of the cult. It is believed that the Agency for Cultural Affairs is currently taking the lead in thoroughly gathering evidence to ensure that its claims will be recognized in court.”

This is according to Eito Suzuki, a journalist who has been pursuing the cult for many years.

Since the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2010, action against the United Families for World Peace and Unification (former Unification Church) has proceeded at an unprecedented speed. At the end of the year, the Victims Relief Law was passed and the right to ask questions was exercised twice.

Hideyuki Teshigawara, head of the Reform Headquarters, has been actively holding press conferences and appealing for reform of the donation and recruitment systems, but it is believed that the dissolution order is only a matter of time. The organization has ordered its followers to pray for the dissolution of the organization, but what other countermeasures are being taken? What other countermeasures are they taking?

The right to ask questions included a request for a report on income, expenditures, and assets, but it is hard to say that the cult has answered truthfully. It is also said that the Sect has a back account book called the ‘B-book. They will continue their practice of withholding as much evidence as possible that would be detrimental to the Order.”

In order to avoid the dissolution of the organization, it is likely that they will make a “last-ditch effort.

“In order to prevent the dissolution order from being issued, they are likely to repeat their previous claim that they have never instructed malicious donations or solicitation as a religious organization. In other words, there is no ‘employer’s liability’ on the part of the Church. On the other hand, they will also put pressure on politicians who are breathing down their necks. Even now, there are many politicians with whom the cult has an unclosed relationship,” he said.

Can the government gather enough evidence to overcome the cult’s claims? We must be careful when the government’s pursuit of the case slows down.

From the January 20-27, 2023 issue of FRIDAY