Overview
- Yoshihiro Seki acknowledged at a post-cabinet press conference Tuesday that he held political fundraising events inside the House of Representatives members' office building and apologized, saying he will "never do it again."
- Seki's office says a June 2024 event called the 'Seikei Bio Forum' brought in ¥810,000, spent about ¥81,957 on venue-related costs, and retained ¥728,043 as profit, and that a similar event took place in December 2020.
- The House of Representatives Secretariat says its internal rules prohibit unapproved commercial or fundraising activities inside the members' office building and that such events are not permitted there.
- Seki has said he did not view the gatherings as commercial acts but that he checked with the House Secretariat on Oct. 9 and was told the events were prohibited; he also said he did not list the retained proceeds in political funding reports because he did not classify them as donations.
- The disclosure comes after heightened scrutiny of LDP faction funding since 2023, and the admission is likely to increase pressure on enforcement of political funding rules and on party discipline, though no formal penalties have been announced.