Ozawa top recipient of political funds for second year in row
TOKYO —
The financial body that monitors the finances of members of the Diet this week released its report on the highest recipients of political donations in 2010, with former Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) chief Ichiro Ozawa occupying the top spot for the second year in a row, TV Asahi reported Wednesday.
Ozawa, 69, who heads the DPJ’s largest faction, received 328.63 million yen in political funds in 2010. He is currently under indictment in a political funds scandal. Three of his former aides were given suspended sentences for falsifying financial reports of Ozawa’s political fund management organization.
The next highest recipient was Kaoru Yosano, a former member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Sunrise Party of Japan and former member of the House of Representatives. Currently an independent candidate, 73-year-old Yosano received over 254.16 million yen last year.
The figures show that 13 of the top 20 earners were Liberal Democratic Party members. In terms of average income, LDP members earned more, at 63.7 million yen, than their DPJ counterparts, who earned an average of 29.84 million yen. The average income for Diet members was calculated at 40.09 million yen, TV Asahi reported.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda received 30.17 million yen last year, putting him in 338th place.
The highest-earning prefectural governors were Aichi’s Hideaki Omura, 51, who declared 80.8 million yen and Tokyo’s Shintaro Ishihara, 79, who received 74.07 million yen, TV Asahi reported.
Japan Today
Order by Time Order by Popularity
6 Comments
Login to comment
-1
Cricky
They should get a pay rise, they were elected to increase their personal wealth and they should keep their promises! Maybe diverting some quake relief money directly too as that must have inconvenienced them greatly.
1
some14some
Congratulations to Ichiro Ozawa and those faithful donors :)
-1
issa1
Life imprisonment for this bastard.
-1
issa1
A good part of these donations was probably made by Korean zainichi.
1
tmarie
Who the heck are these people and why can't they see him for the snake he is? God people in this country infuriate me sometimes.
0
Shumatsu_Samurai
You're being silly. "Bad" people get funding all the time in countries around the world, this isn't limited to Japan or Japanese people. These people are just hedging their bets that Ozawa will beat the rap and remain a powerful back-room politician.
Back to top