LDP lawmaker gave cash to assembly member also in 2014

November 25, 2017

Osaka- Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Noboru Kamitani handed cash to a local assembly member in his constituency in western Japan during the official campaign period for the December 2014 House of Representatives election, it was learned Saturday.

The revelation came after Kamitani, a Lower House member, admitted Friday that he gave 2.1 million yen in cash to a total of 14 local assembly members in his constituency before the Lower House election last October.

Kamitani and his wife visited a year-end party held by an LDP member of the city assembly of Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture, on Dec. 6, 2014, and handed 100,000 yen to the organizers, in excess of a party fee of 6,000 yen, according to the assembly member and the political funds report of the LDP chapter headed by Kamitani.

The assembly member issued a receipt for the money to the LDP chapter and registered it as a donation.

"Although the money was more than the party fee, I thought it was a gift," the member said. "There was no request for support for his election campaign."

The official campaign period for the Dec. 14, 2014, Lower House election started on Dec. 2. The political funds report showed that Kamitani also donated 100,000 yen to another member of the Kishiwada city assembly on Dec. 1.

In the 2014 race, Kamitani failed to be elected from the constituency but won a seat in the all-important lower chamber of parliament for the first time from the regional proportional representation bloc of Kinki, western Japan. Jiji Press