Tokyo’s Secret Funds Scandal and Shinji Ishimaru’s New Party Plans: Election Blow?

The outcome of the crackdown is…

However, the amount of the slush fund in this case is about 1 million to 2 million yen per legislator. In the case of factional slush fund scandals involving Diet members, prosecutors had used 40 million yen as the threshold for crackdown. Amid whispers that the investigation may be postponed considering the impact on the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections, the key issue now is how thoroughly prosecutors will pursue the investigation.

“Since December of last year, the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Special Investigation Division has been summoning supporting prosecutors and questioning them voluntarily. It is said that the amount of unreported funds for the faction is 30 million yen, and if the intentionally unreported amount is that large, there is a possibility that Mr. Y, who was involved in the accounting, could be charged with violation of the Political Funds Control Law (false reporting)” (National newspaper legal reporter)

While the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s ruling party is in a bind, that man stood up.

Shinji Ishimaru, the former mayor of Aki Takada City (42), who attracted attention in the previous Tokyo gubernatorial election. Ishimaru had planned to announce the establishment of a new regional political party on January 15 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, but just two days before, on the 13th, he announced the cancellation of the press conference on his X account. However, on the same day, it was announced that the conference would be held at a different venue. In the new release for the press conference, there were detailed conditions, such as asking whether mainstream media and network media with 1 million registered users were present.

At the beginning of the press conference, he specifically called out the Japan Times, which had been the organizer of the press club, and said:

“Is it okay for you to just leak the release as part of information management? There has still been no apology. It’s arrogant.”

From the outset, Ishimaru split the media, and although he himself claimed he would not run, the question remains whether he can generate enough momentum to defeat the Liberal Democratic Party’s candidate.

“Within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Ishimaru’s case is hardly being discussed. It depends on the candidates he supports, but there are likely to be candidates whose main goal is self-promotion, similar to those who ran in the Tokyo gubernatorial election last year, so his influence is seen as limited. Instead, attention is focused on the momentum of the Constitutional Democratic Party, which made a significant advance in the last House of Representatives election” (Tokyo Metropolitan Government executive).