LDP lawmaker resigns as Tokushukai election scandal rocks Japanese politics

Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Takeshi Tokuda submitted his resignation to the lower house's administrative office Monday to take account for his connection to illegal campaigning during his general election drive in December 2012. Tokuda, 42, whose house and business headquarters in Tokyo were first raided by investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office in September, will likely resign before March 15, allowing for a lower house by-election to be held for his single seat in the Kagoshima Prefecture's No. 2 constituency. According to prosecutors, the money scandal involving the Tokushukai Group, which comprises some 60 hospitals and 280 medical facilities and is the biggest such conglomerate in Japan, has seen some 594 of Tokuda's campaigners suspected of netting a total of 150 million yen (around 1.5 million U.S. dollars) in illicit rewards for their campaigning services. Tokuda, his family members and some of the group's associates have been suspected of paying inflated bonuses and providing gifts such as air tickets to cover the time that 594 Tokushukai employees spent campaigning on Tokuda's behalf, in direct contravention of the Public Offices Election Law, which prohibits payments being made to campaigners and voters. Prosecutors confirmed that Tokuda's two elder sisters, his mother, at least two corporate affiliates and four members of medical facilities founded by the Tokushukai Group have been arrested for violating the election law. One of his elder sisters, Michiyo Stern, has been indicted on charges of violating the public offices election law and may receive a prison sentence for her involvement in the scandal, sources close to the matter said. This has prompted Tokuda to step down and seek leniency before being ousted by Japan's "guilt-by-association" section of Japan's public offenses law. Stern herself pleaded guilty to the charges in a hearing on Jan 31, upping the likelihood she will face prison time, the sources said. "It's not good for national politics if I stay in my post when my family members have pleaded guilty. I apologize to voters, the Liberal Democratic Party and Tokushukai for causing them trouble. I have to take responsibility," Tokuda told a news conference Monday. The Tokushukai money scandal has rocked Japanese politics of late, with former Tokyo governor Naoki Inose, also resigning in December after admitting he received 50 million yen from the scandal-hit hospital chain ahead of an election. Inose initially admitted that he received the money from the Tokushukai medical group prior to running in last year's gubernatorial election, but said it was a personal loan and that the funds were in no way used to finance any of his campaign. Tokuda, on center stage in the current scandal, is serving his third term as a lower house member and is the second son of Torao Tokuda, 75, who founded the Tokushukai Group. Torao Tokuda, who served as a lower house member between 1990 and 1996 and again in 2000 and 2005, was not initially arrested by the police owing to failing health, however police and prosecutors believe the pair had knowledge of the illegal campaigning as Tokuda senior also allegedly mobilized hundreds of employees during his own election campaigns. Tokuda was first elected to the lower house in 2005 and succeeded his father in the Kagoshima Prefecture's No. 2 constituency. Prior to that, he served as his father's secretary for three years between 2002 and 2005. Officials from the prosecutors office said that investigations will continue to establish definitively the extent to which Tokuda and his father were involved in the election scandal. Tokuda, following an unrelated scandal, resigned in February as parliamentary secretary in charge of infrastructure and transport, following revelations of an extramarital affair.