Japan ruling, opposition blocs vow to scrap undisclosed policy funds

Japan's ruling and opposition parties agreed Tuesday to work toward abolishing policy activity funds, which are not subject to disclosure even when such income reaches hundreds of millions of yen, during their first meeting on political reforms.

But the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has expressed reluctance to eliminate corporate donations, which have benefited the pro-business LDP, lawmakers said, despite criticism that the practice is considered a form of bribery that could distort policy outcomes.

The discussions come as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's LDP seeks to reach policy consensus with the opposition camp, after the party and its junior coalition partner lost their majority in the House of Representatives election on Oct 27.

The LDP aims to enact new revisions to the political funds control law by the end of the year. Party powerbrokers have not been required to report how they spend the money, raising doubts about whether it may have been used inappropriately.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said it intends to map out its own proposals on political funds reforms. It remains uncertain whether the main opposition party and the LDP will make concessions on the issue, lawmakers said.

The 24-day extraordinary parliamentary session is scheduled to convene on Thursday, as the LDP faces intense scrutiny over revelations that some of its factions failed to report portions of income from fundraising events and created slush funds.

Revisions to the law were previously passed in June, when the LDP, then led by Ishiba's predecessor, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, attempted to showcase efforts to reform the political funds system to regain public trust in politics.

The changes, however, were criticized as insufficient, with opposition parties highlighting the absence of a ban on corporate donations and the lack of clarity on when mandatory disclosures of policy activity funds would be implemented.

© KYODO