Ex-PM Kishida Gave Gift Vouchers to LDP Lawmakers

Tokyo, March 19 (Jiji Press)--Former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave gift certificates to lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party while in office, LDP sources said Wednesday.

The revelations came at a time when incumbent Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been under fire for distributing gift certificates worth 100,000 yen to LDP lawmakers.

The office of another former prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, said that he had given gifts to LDP lawmakers.

Opposition parties are poised to increase their pressure on Ishiba and the LDP as those instances signal that Japanese prime ministers have regularly distributed money and goods to LDP lawmakers.

"This has become a structurally deep-rooted problem," Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]