Japan lawmaker’s office raided over accusations of fraud

August 28, 2025

TOKYO – Investigators raided the Tokyo office of House of Councillors member Akira Ishii of the Japan Innovation Party on suspicion of fraud involving state-funded salaries for secretaries.

Ishii, 68, is alleged to have illegally received a state-funded salary for a secretary who has no record of actually performing secretarial duties.

The special investigative squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Office searched Ishii’s office in the Diet members’ office building in Nagatacho, Tokyo, as well as other related locations. It is expected to continue questioning office staff and others to uncover the situation, including the handling of the secretary’s salary, sources close to the investigators said.

Salaries for state-paid secretaries, who are classified as special public servants, are covered by public funds. Monthly payments range from about ¥300,000 to ¥600,000, depending on their age and years of service.

The secretary in question was employed by Ishii’s office and received a salary, but has no record of performing any secretarial duties, according to the sources. This raised suspicions of illegal payments.

The search began just after 10 a.m. Wednesday, with investigators entering the office in the Diet members’ building and other locations.

Ishii, who is from Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, served as a city assembly member in Toride and a member of the House of Representatives. He was first elected to the upper house in 2016 and is now in his second term.

There have been a series of fraud cases involving Diet members and secretarial salaries since the late 1990s. As a result, when the law regarding Diet members’ salaries was revised in 2004, measures were taken to pay the salaries of state-paid secretaries directly to the individuals.

However, similar incidents have since been uncovered. Last year, then upper house member Megumi Hirose of the Liberal Democratic Party was indicted without arrest on suspicion of fraud, for allegedly swindling about ¥3.6 million in secretarial salaries and other funds. She was later found guilty.