Bribery allegations a fresh blow for Japan’s beleaguered Lower House speaker

[ad_1]

House of Representatives Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda’s team paid several thousand yen per day in cash to local assembly members and others in western Japan during campaigning for last October’s Lower House election, documents showed Wednesday, in a suspected case of bribery that would violate the election law.

Hosoda, who won a seat in the Oct. 31 election in Shimane Prefecture’s No. 1 district, recorded the payments as labor expenses, according to campaign expense reports. Labor expenses are usually paid for simple tasks.

Unable to view this article?

This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.

Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.

If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.

We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

[ad_2]