The House of Representatives Budget Committee reached an agreement during its executive meeting on Tuesday to conduct a closed-door hearing on Thursday regarding a slush funds scandal with Junichiro Matsumoto, a former accountant for a faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Matsumoto served as chief accountant of the now-defunct faction once headed by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Matsumoto twice rejected requests from Lower House Budget Committee Chairperson Jun Azumi to appear before the committee, although it decided last month to summon him by a majority vote with support from opposition parties.
LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama called on Matsumoto to comply, as the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan suggested that Matsumoto’s failure to testify would impact the schedule of deliberations on the fiscal 2025 draft budget.
Matsumoto has already been convicted over his involvement in the slush funds scandal.
“The hearing will take place at a hotel in Tokyo,” Azumi told reporters on Tuesday. “We want to hear from Matsumoto about what he told the authorities during the investigation.”
