August 28, 2025
Tokyo – Investigators raided the Tokyo office of House Representatives Akira Ishii, a member of the Japanese Innovation Party, for alleged fraud involving state-funded secretary’s salary.
Ishii, 68, allegedly illegally received state-funded wages from secretaries who did not actually perform their duties as secretary.
A special investigation team from the Tokyo District Attorney’s Office searched the Ishii office at the dietary member office building in Nagatacho, Tokyo, and other related locations. Sources close to investigators said they are expected to continue asking office staff and others about the situation, including handling the secretary’s salary.
Public funds cover the salary of state-owned secretaries classified as special civil servants. Monthly payments range from about ¥300,000 to ¥600,000, depending on their age and years of service.
According to sources, the relevant secretary was hired by the ISHII office and received a salary but had no record of performing any secretary’s duties. This has raised doubts about illegal payments.
The search began after 10 a.m. Wednesday, and investigators entered the offices of the Diet Member Building and other locations.
Ishii is Ishii from Toride, Ibaraki County, who served as a member of the city council and a member of the House of Representatives. He was first elected to the House of Lords in 2016 and is now in his second term.
Since the late 1990s, there have been a series of fraud cases involving the salary of diet members and secretary. As a result, when the law on salary of diet members was revised in 2004, measures were taken to pay the salary of the state payment secretary directly to individuals.
However, similar events have been discovered since then. Last year, Megumi Hirose, a member of the House of Lords of the then Liberal Democratic Party, was charged for allegedly fraud over allegedly allegedly suspected of secretary salary and other funds. She was later found guilty.
