Japan Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree to Abolish 'Dark Money' Lawmakers' Policy Activity Expenses

Ruling and Opposition Parties in Japan Agree on Political Funds Law Revision
Decision on Abolishing Corporate Donations to Be Made Next Year

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) have agreed to completely abolish policy activity funds, which are "black box funds" that do not require disclosure of their usage. A decision on whether to ban corporate donations is expected by the end of March next year.

Yonhap News

According to local media such as the Mainichi Shimbun on the 16th, the heads of the Diet Policy Committees of the LDP and CDP agreed on a revision of the Political Funds Control Act that includes this measure. Following this agreement, the revised bill to abolish policy activity funds is expected to pass the House of Representatives on the 17th.

The Political Funds Control Act was discussed in the wake of faction slush fund scandals within the LDP. In June, the Diet passed a revision with the support of the LDP, its coalition partner Komeito, and the opposition Japan Innovation Party.

However, there was significant public criticism that the measures in the law were insufficient. After the ruling party's defeat in the October general election, attributed to the slush fund scandals, the LDP pushed for a further revision of the Political Funds Control Act. LDP President and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also supported the opposition's call to abolish policy activity funds.

Policy activity funds are political funds provided by parties to individual lawmakers. Since the specific usage does not have to be disclosed, they were called a so-called "black box."

The total policy activity funds paid by the LDP to key executives last year amounted to 850.5 million yen (approximately 790 million KRW). The LDP initially sought to include a provision in the supplementary clauses of the revised bill allowing the usage details to remain undisclosed to the public in cases involving diplomatic secrets, but withdrew this plan due to opposition from other parties.

On the same day, the two parties agreed to decide by the end of March next year whether to ban corporate and organizational donations. While the CDP advocates for banning corporate donations, the LDP holds a negative stance on the ban.

The two parties also agreed to support a bill to establish a Political Funds Monitoring Committee within the Diet to oversee political fund expenditures.