Former legislative secretary of Isshu Sugawara
Nobuo Gohara, Lawyer

12:00-13:00 Friday, June 18, 2021
The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation

Japanese Vote-Buying

Isshu Sugawara's secretary wants to put the record straight about LDP vote-buying. He says that charges filed by prosecutors against his former boss, an ex-trade minister, who was indited on June 8 over suspected illegal donations to voters in his Tokyo constituency, are minor compared to the scale of actual wrongdoing. Sugawara's secretary suspects a deal was made between the LDP and prosecutors in a bid to cover up widespread illegality.

Sugawara's secretary insists that he confessed to the prosecutors all vote-buying activities done by himself as ordered by Sugawara, amounting to at least several million yen a year. He says he was the one who actually handed the cash to voters, but the charges disclosed by the prosecutors amount to just 800,000 yen and are labeled "condolence money," which he says is a lie.

The secretary will come to the FCCJ with his lawyer, Nobou Gohara, to put on the record what he says is widespread vote-buying activities by his boss, who was forced to resign after his arrest.

When the amount of money used for vote-buying is under 1 million yen, defendants usually get a 3-year suspended sentence, which would allow Sugawara to seek public office again in the election after next. Sugawara's secretary says the widespread vote-buying is destroying Japanese democracy and it must stop. He confessed all to the prosecutors but claims they did not want to listen to him, so he has decided to go public. Come to the FCCJ to hear his potentially explosive claims.

How to attend: 
Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Due to space restrictions attendance will be limited to 20 people. Doors open 30 minutes before the event. Please sign in, giving your name and contact details at the reception, and have your temperature taken before proceeding. 

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