December 2 According to a report by Japan’s Kyodo News Agency, the Japanese legal group submitted a petition to sue Abe and other three people to the special search department of the Tokyo District Prosecutor’s Office on December 1 around the “cherry appreciation meeting” hosted by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
According to reports, the above request is made by the “Prosecuting the “Sakura Appreciation Club” Law Firm” composed of lawyers and legal scholars from all over Japan. The group requested the prosecution of Shinzo Abe and three others on suspicion of violating the Public Office Election Law (Donation Act) and the Political Fund Regulation Law.
Yoshiyo Onodera, the director of the group’s affairs and lawyer who held a press conference in Tokyo, stressed: “This is a political crime of the power of an extremely bad nature. Abe should admit criminal responsibility, tell the truth in Congress and withdraw from politics.
According to previous reports, from 2013 to 2019, Abe’s government will hold a large-scale banquet called the “Eve Eve Festival” on the eve of the “Cherry Blossom Appreciation”. Recently, Abe’s support association has admitted that in five years, they have spent a total of 9.16 million yen (about 577,000 yuan) to fill the deficit in the activity funds.
Regarding the specific source of funding, it is still under investigation. Some opposition parties have pointed out that Abe may take the opportunity of the “cherry appreciation party” to entertain his supporters with public funds. However, Abe denied all the allegations and said that his support club did not make any income or expenditure at the “eve of the Eve Festival”.
