TOKYO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is considering urging two heavyweights of its biggest faction to leave the party due to their roles in a political funds scandal, local media reported on Tuesday.
Former education minister Ryu Shionoya, the de facto leader of the faction previously led by the late premier Shinzo Abe, and Hiroshige Seko, another Abe faction member and former LDP secretary general in the House of Councillors, will likely be advised to leave the party, the second-heaviest punishment in the party's eight levels of punitive steps following expulsion, Kyodo News reported, citing sources close to the matter.
The LDP leadership team reached a conclusion that the two were responsible for not abolishing the faction's kickback scheme of distributing unreported funds from the proceeds of fundraising events to faction members, the report said.
The LDP, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is set to formally decide on the punishment of 39 incumbent and former lawmakers, most of whom failed to declare at least 5 million yen (33,000 U.S. dollars) in their political fund's reports during five years through 2022, it added.
The political funds scandal engulfing the ruling party emerged following a criminal complaint late last year alleging five LDP factions underreported their revenue from political fundraising parties for years, from which the extra income may have been returned to some of their lawmakers as kickbacks. ■
