Japan's Lower House member Yoshitaka Ikeda, rear right, poses for a photograph with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, bottom left, as he is sworn in as vice-education minister at Kishida's office in Tokyo, on Nov. 11, 2021. Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Ikeda on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 on suspicion of failing to report fundraising proceeds he received from his faction within the governing Liberal Democratic Party, according to officials and local media reports. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors made their first arrest Sunday in connection with a major political slush fund scandal that has rocked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's already unpopular government.

Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office said in a statement it apprehended former vice-education minister Yoshitaka Ikeda on suspicion of failing to report fundraising proceeds he received from his faction within the governing Liberal Democratic Party.

Ikeda’s faction, which used to be led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, has remained the largest and most influential within Kishida’s ruling party. The faction is suspected of failing to report more than 600 million yen ($4.15 million).

The former vice minister is suspected of not reporting the extra money he received from political event ticket sales from his faction, a violation of the political funds control law. He allegedly falsified the compulsory report of his political funds’ management organization and excluded more than 48 million yen (about $332,000) over the five years from 2018 to 2022, by colluding with his aide, the prosecutors' office said.

The sum was quite large compared with the 10 million yen (nearly $69,140) allegedly received by each of several others implicated in the scandal.

Ikeda's aide, Kazuhiro Kakinuma, was also arrested Sunday. Prosecutors said they arrested the pair to keep them from destroying evidence, local media reported.

Kishida said Sunday the arrest was “extremely regrettable" and that the party has decided to expel Ikeda. He reiterated that he took the matter seriously and he plans to set up an expert panel later this week to start discussing ways to strengthen fundraising regulations.

“We must have a strong sense of crisis and make an effort to regain public trust,” Kishida told reporters.

Last year, dozens of LDP lawmakers, mostly members of the Abe faction, were accused of systematically failing to report about 600 million ($4.15 million) yen in funds, in possible violation of campaign and election laws, according to media reports. The money is alleged to have gone into unmonitored slush funds.

Kishida replaced four of his Cabinet ministers linked to the scandal in December in an attempt to mitigate the scandal that has rocked his party and grip on power. Former top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno and Economy and Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura were among those removed. Prosecutors reportedly interviewed the two top officials on a voluntary basis, along with several other senior LDP lawmakers.

Support ratings for Kishida have continued to drop, falling below 20% despite purging members of the Abe wing involved in the scandal. This move could trigger an internal power struggle within the ruling party.

The party's factions have traditionally set quotas for each lawmaker on the sale of fundraising party tickets, usually at 200,000 yen (about $1,380) each. The lawmakers first submit the money to their faction, and those who sold more tickets than their quota are paid back the extra amount they made, local reports say.

Under the political funds control law, a lawmaker's accountant is responsible for filing financial records. Unless there is proof an accountant was given explicit orders to falsify records, lawmakers can't be charged.

If convicted, a violator could face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 1 million yen (nearly $6,913).

The LDP has almost continually ruled postwar Japan. It has faced repeated infamy with the 1970s Lockheed bribery case and an insider trading and corruption scandal in the 1980s among other money scandals.

However, LDP’s grip on power is seen unchanged as long as the opposition remains fractured, though Kishida’s leadership is shaking.

The prime minister doesn’t have to call a parliamentary election until 2025, but the Liberal Democratic Party has a leadership vote in September.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024