Expelled for Probing Missing Funds—Ex-Director Exposes Kansai Economic Club Turmoil

Chairman X personally answered the phone

Even beyond financial transparency, there is another unclear aspect—the actual relationship between the club and the members of the National Diet. The club holds three regular meetings annually, in February, July, and November. The invitations for these events list around a dozen Diet members as “guest invitees.” The most recent invitation for the February 20th meeting included the names of 15 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, such as Kenta Izumi, Motohisa Furukawa, and Yasutoshi Nishimura.

Fujieda also raised concerns about this practice.

“Every invitation includes the names of numerous Diet members. When I first joined, Chairman X showed me the club’s newsletter and told me he had connections in the political and bureaucratic world, so I expected to be introduced to these lawmakers. However, I never once saw any prominent politician attend. If two or three lawmakers showed up, that was considered a good turnout, and there were plenty of times when none attended at all.

Furthermore, the February meeting was scheduled in the middle of the parliamentary session. Logically, it’s highly unlikely that well-known lawmakers would be able to attend. Yet their names were still listed, which suggests they were being used as advertising figures rather than actual participants. The relationship between the club and these politicians was likely not as deep as it appeared. Perhaps due to these circumstances becoming known, attendance at the meetings has reportedly been declining.”

How did Chairman X respond to these allegations from former board members? A press inquiry form was prepared, listing questions about the fact of expulsion, the reason for not holding a board meeting before the expulsion, the refusal to disclose financial statements despite requests, and the inclusion of numerous Diet members in the club’s newsletter, which former board members claim was merely for advertising purposes.

A call was placed to the club’s contact number, and Chairman X answered directly. Initially, he was calm, but upon hearing the word interview, he suddenly became flustered and interrupted the conversation, saying, “W-w-wait, I’ll call you back later, sorry,” before hastily ending the call. When informed that the press inquiry form would be sent via fax, he responded, “I’ll call you back later, okay, thanks, okay,” before cutting off the call unilaterally.

After that, the office phone became unreachable, and attempts to send the fax were met with repeated unable to send messages. The inquiry form was then sent to Chairman X’s email address, and a short message requesting an interview was also sent to his personal mobile phone. However, no response was received by the deadline.

In this long-established economic club, where prominent Diet members have continued to contribute New Year’s greetings, three former board members who had been at the heart of its activities were now prepared to take legal action against the organization’s leader. Such an insincere response, tarnishing over 30 years of history and tradition, should be reconsidered.