Former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his lawmaker wife Anri were indicted Wednesday for handing out cash allegedly to secure her election to parliament, media said
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) Former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his lawmaker wife Anri were indicted Wednesday for handing out cash allegedly to secure her election to parliament, media said.
The two were arrested on June 18, according to the Kyodo news agency. Anri Kawai's legal team filed a request for her bail earlier in the day.
The former minister is accused of distributing an equivalent of $270,000 among a hundred politicians and supporters in Hiroshima between March and August last year, while his wife is suspected of conspiring with him to pay further $15,000 to five people to secure an upper house seat.
Katsuyuki Kawai, a member of the lower house of parliament, reportedly had close ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the indictment is expected to hurt the government's approval ratings.
The couple have quit Abe's governing Liberal Democratic Party as they await the court ruling, which is expected in 100 days. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the scandal during a press briefing.
