Not only the “slush fund problem”…Scoop! LDP member with 51 million yen slush fund” allegedly misuses free JR pass.

Former LDP Vice President Banmutsumi Ohno, who was the chief editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group and a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, is said to have used his influence in all directions to manipulate the political world. A five-minute drive from Gifu-Hashima Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, where a statue of him stands, is the local office of his grandson, Yasumasa Ohno, a member of the House of Councilors (who left the LDP in January).

When the investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office began in earnest at the end of last year into the matter of the LDP faction’s use of a portion of its political fund party income as slush funds, the building with its distinctive light-green exterior was surrounded by reporters on a daily basis. The building, with its distinctive light-green façade, was surrounded by reporters on a daily basis.

When the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Mr. Ono at home on January 19 on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law (false statements), local supporters began receiving phone calls from him. His cell phone, which had a picture of his only daughter waiting for him, was confiscated by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, so he contacted us from a landline phone at his local office and other locations. Now that the investigation has settled down, he returns to his hometown mainly on weekends, but sometimes he does not get off at Gifu-Hashima Station but uses Nagoya Station, one station ahead, to avoid the eyes of reporters.

At a press conference after the indictment, Ohno denied the allegations of slush funds, saying, “I have nothing to be ashamed of. According to a supporter who purchased faction party tickets, “Mr. Ono explained that he received money from the Abe faction (to which he belonged at the time), but never touched it.

While the issue of “politics and money,” which has caused a stir in the public, has been referred to the judiciary, Mr. Ohno has another problem concerning his “parliamentary privileges. One is the alleged misuse of the “Diet Members’ Rail Pass,” or the so-called “JR Free Pass.

The JR Free Pass is a card the size of a business card, and it is given to Diet members under the National Diet Members’ Expenses Law. If you show the pass at a manned ticket gate at a station, you can ride all JR lines in Japan for free. Express tickets are also free, and when using the Shinkansen, you can travel in green seats. Only Diet members themselves are eligible for these privileges, not their secretaries, office personnel, or relatives of Diet members.

In FY’2011, the combined total of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors was funded by a tax of approximately 500 million yen. Nevertheless, in the past, a weekly magazine pointed out that Aso’s deputy chief cabinet secretary and Shiori Yamao, then a member of the House of Representatives, had allegedly used the money illegally.

The evidence supporting this new allegation is the “Member of Parliament Reserved Seat and Sleeper Application Form (hereafter, “Application Form”),” which is believed to have been submitted by Mr. Ohno to the JR office when he used the Shinkansen bullet train.

On the application form, the Diet member’s name and the section of the train to be used are written, and the application form is exchanged for a limited express ticket at the counter. On the other hand, among the application forms obtained by this magazine, there is an inconsistent application form that cannot be physically used by one person. Specifically, they are as follows, all from the year ’21.

①April 9, 10:21am Shinkansen Nozomi 221 from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka / April 12, 10:57am Nozomi 222 from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo
③Nozomi No. 221 from Tokyo at 18:00 on April 10 (to Gifu Hashima)
Nozomi No. 8 (to Fukuyama) from Nozomi No. 8 (to Fukuyama) from Nozomi No. 8 (to Fukuyama) from Nozomi No. 8 (to Fukuyama) from Nozomi No. 35 (to Hiroshima) from Kyoto at 15:23 on the same day.

In the application form ②, the handwritten text was indistinct or unfilled.

Application forms (1) and (2) show a stamp with the date of the boarding date, which appears to have been stamped at Tokyo Station, and (3) also shows a stamp with the date of the boarding date and the name “Gifu Hashima” written on it. It is believed that the express tickets were issued on the spot after Councilor Ohno himself or someone related to his office showed the application form at the ticket counter.

The reason why it is possible that in addition to Mr. Ohno himself, someone from his office may have visited the counter is because of the following circumstances.

The following is the reason: “The issuance of tickets (including limited express tickets) at the counter is handled only by submitting an application form. These application forms are prepared by the JR passenger companies and distributed to the offices of the congressmen of each country via the House of Representatives. For this reason, we assume that only members of the Diet or their legitimate representatives are in possession of the application form. We then ask the Diet members to present the JR Free Pass at the ticket gates when they use the train,” said JR East.

Returning to the verification of the application forms, if, as in (1), Diet Member Ohno was in Osaka from April 9 to 12, he would not be able to travel to Gifu or Hiroshima using application forms (2) and (3). However, it would not be impossible if he separately traveled by passenger car or took the Shinkansen at his own expense, but such travel would be unnatural.

There are other alleged application forms.

(iv) Nozomi No. 219 from Tokyo at 10:00 on October 8 (to Shin-Osaka) / Nozomi No. 222 from Shin-Osaka at 10:57 on October 10 (to Tokyo)
⑤October 10, 20:15 (Gifu) Hikari No. 664 from Hashima (to Tokyo)
⑥Oct. 11, 12:10 (Tokyo) Nozomi No. 31 (to Nagoya)/Oct. 11, 14:00 (Nagoya) Shinano (to Tajimi)

Looking at these three application forms alone, there is no discrepancy, but according to Councilor Ohno’s Facebook page and other sources, he was engaged in political activities in Gifu Prefecture on October 9. Then, in order to rationally explain application forms 4) and 5), he would have to travel to Tokyo, Osaka, and Gifu from October 8 to 9, and then to Gifu, Osaka, Tokyo, Gifu, and Tokyo from October 9 to 10.

When we directly asked Councilor Ohno about these unnatural usage of the Shinkansen, he only said , “I don’t know a little bit. When we asked him again in writing, he generally responded as follows.

Application form (2) was used to support the election of a local head of state, and application form (3) was probably used to support the re-election of a member of the House of Councillors to the Hiroshima electoral district and to inspect innkeepers who were affected by the COVID-19 crisis. (5) is believed to have been used by me on my return to Tokyo after speaking at a seminar for the Gifu City branch of the Liberal Democratic Party.

While he admitted to using the Shinkansen for part of the application, he responded as follows regarding the rest of the application forms.

I believe that Mr. A, a former member of the House of Councillors (his real name in the response), used the Shinkansen under my name.

In 2010, Mr. A was arrested by the Aichi Prefectural Police on suspicion of fraud for boarding a Shinkansen train with an expired pass that he had received while in office but had not returned.

The trial revealed that Mr. A filled in Councilor Ohno’s name on the application form and received the express ticket at the JR ticket counter. Councilor Ohno was involved in the incident.” (Local reporter)

If so, does this mean that the application form obtained by this magazine was forged by Mr. A? However, we cannot take Councilor Ono’s explanation for granted.

After Mr. A was convicted, he discussed the matter with the JR Tokai side (the victim) and made an effort to clarify the details of the fraudulent ride and to compensate for the damage. As a result, we know that he never traveled from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka as described in application 1) and 4). In fact, Mr. A repeatedly took the Shinkansen mainly on the section between Nagoya, which is closest to his home, and Tokyo, where the hospital is located, for hospital visits, etc.”

There are other testimonies that may shake the credibility of Senator Ohno’s explanations. This magazine obtained documents with Councilor Ono’s signature on them. We then asked an expert to appraise (1) and (4), two of the application forms on which Mr. Ohno claims that “Mr. A used his name for fraudulent use,” whose handwriting at first glance resembled that of the documents.

The results of the appraisal revealed that the handwriting on application form 1) was similar to that on application form 2), and that the handwriting on application form 3) was similar to that on application form 4), which Mr. Ono claimed “Mr. A used his name and misappropriated.

As a result of the appraisal, we concluded that the signatures on the application forms (1) and (4) and the signature on the documents are ‘identical handwriting’ respectively. In other words, there is a strong possibility that they were all written by the same person.

Since the application form and the documents were written in different writing instruments, there are certain limits to the accuracy of the appraisal. Even taking this into consideration, the position of the first and second strokes of the character for “Dai” and the starting point of the third stroke are similar. The space between the first and second strokes of “野” and the angle and length of the fourth and fifth strokes of “泰” are also similar. Similarities can also be noted in terms of the balance in size of the four Chinese characters in the name.”

Let us examine the application forms (1) and (4) again, assuming that they were written by Mr. Ohno himself.

Both of these were for a round trip between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. As mentioned above, the periods of application forms (1), (2), and (3) overlap in part. In addition, since Senator Ohno admitted to using (2) and (3) in the first place, the discrepancy is further strengthened by the handwriting analysis.

On the other hand, the suspicion regarding application form (4), which states that he departed from Tokyo Station at 10:00 a.m. on October 8, has also deepened. The reason is that on that day, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who had just assumed office, was delivering his policy speech in both houses of the Diet.

It is hard to imagine a member of the Diet missing one of the most important events in the Diet. In fact, when we confirmed this in writing to Ohno’s office, they replied, “I attended the plenary session of the House of Councillors on October 8, 2009. Since Prime Minister Kishida’s speech in the House of Councillors began after 3:00 p.m., it is possible that he traveled back and forth between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. However, such an explanation is too implausible.

Therefore, in both cases involving application form (1) and (4), it is necessary to assume the existence of a third party in order to provide a reasonable explanation.

For example, suppose that Mr. Ohno filled out the application form himself and handed it to a certain person. As mentioned above, JR companies issue limited express tickets even without a JR Free Pass as long as the application form is completed, so the person who receives the application form from Mr. Ohno can receive the limited express ticket at the counter in Tokyo Station free of charge. The person may have paid for the ticket himself. However, he was able to travel between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka on the Shinkansen using the limited express ticket he received free of charge, and at a lower cost than usual.

In other words, Mr. Ohno may have exploited a “gap” in the JR free pass system, including the application form, and misused the money. Councilor Ohno, who is in the middle of a slush fund scandal, is now the focus of new suspicions.

Interview and text by Naoyuki Miyashita (nonfiction writer)
naoyukimiyashita@pm.me