Overview

• Tokyo police and seven prefectural forces arrested Delpara’s president Lee Chang-nam (also known as Masanori Yamamoto) and five executives on suspicion of promising cash to employees for votes in the July Upper House proportional race.
• Investigators say instructions were relayed in early July via an online company meeting and store briefings, with managers told to have staff report voting, including photographed ballots, while confirmation of actual payouts remains under scrutiny.
• Reporting indicates roughly 250 employees are believed to have voted as prompted and that about 280 people in total could be processed in what may be the largest such case since the Heisei era, spanning all 31 stores across one metropolis and seven prefectures.
• In a separate case, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Special Investigation Department searched sites tied to Japan Innovation Party lawmaker Akira Ishii over suspected fraud involving public secretary pay, seizing materials from his Diet and local offices.
• Innovation Party secretary-general Hiroshi Nakatsukasa said the party would respond appropriately if the allegations prove true, while other political figures and local controversies in Hyogo and Shizuoka added pressure for clearer accountability.