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2015 March 25 - 31 [POLITICS]

Civic ombudsman group accuses Education Minister of violating Political Funds Control Law

A civic ombudsman group on March 24 brought to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office an accusation against Education Minister Shimomura Hakubun and his support groups of violating the Political Funds Control Law.

The political funds ombudsman group is composed of 24 members, including Kobe Gakuin University Professor Kamiwaki Hiroyuki and lawyer Sakaguchi Tokuo.

According to the written accusation, six supporters’ organizations for Shimomura, without completing the mandatory registration as a “political organization” under the Political Funds Control Act, donated their membership fees to a Liberal Democratic Party’s local branch that is headed by Shimomura and collected additional money by holding parties and study meetings in which Shimomura attended as the guest speaker.

The accusation points out that the Education Minister was clearly involved in the organizations’ activities as shown by the fact that he repeatedly took part in their events.

The ombudsman group in the accusation criticized Shimomura as lacking the qualification to be Education Minister and demanded disciplinary action be taken for his illegal acts.