Core tip: On November 25, multiple Japanese media outlets reported that Yukio Hatoyama's mother, Anko, had provided her son with up to nine billion yen in political funds in recent years, potentially violating Japan's Political Funds Control Law. Hatoyama himself strongly denied the matter.
According to reports from multiple Japanese media sources on November 25, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's mother, Anko, had provided her son with up to nine billion yen in political funds over recent years, potentially violating Japan's Political Funds Control Law. Yukio Hatoyama strongly denied this issue, saying, "The report came as a great surprise to me. Until now, I believed that such a thing would not happen."
Comprehensive reports from local media indicate that Japanese prosecutors are currently investigating the falsification of income and expenditure reports by Hatoyama's financial management group, "Yuai Seikei Konwa-kai." It is suspected that between 2004 and 2008, Hatoyama's mother annually provided him with approximately 1.8 billion yen, totaling about nine billion yen (approximately 700 million yuan RMB), including part of the more than three billion yen in false funds currently under investigation by "Yuai Seikei Konwa-kai."
According to relevant Japanese laws, if these nine billion yen were gifts from Anko, then Hatoyama would be obligated to pay taxes of up to fifty percent. If these funds were donations from Anko to "Yuai Seikei Konwa-kai," then she would have violated the Political Funds Control Law's stipulation that "personal donations from individuals other than the politician themselves cannot exceed 1.5 million yen per year."
It is understood that Hatoyama's mother is the eldest daughter of the founder of tire manufacturer Bridgestone Corporation and also one of its major shareholders. She has always been the strongest supporter of Yukio Hatoyama's political activities, with her assets managed by the Hatoyama family's asset management company, "Rokko Shoko." A source revealed to the media that Anko did not provide funds to Hatoyama through bank transfers but instead directly handed over cash, treating it as a personal loan to Hatoyama. Thus, Hatoyama did not need to pay any taxes nor violate the Political Funds Control Law.
Hatoyama categorically denied the reports of his mother improperly providing him with political funds during an interview with the media, stating that these reports left him "greatly surprised."
Japanese prosecutors believe that although there may be falsifications, if the Hatoyama family's assets were used as political funds, the nature of the act would not be considered extremely serious. In the future, the main focus will be on investigating the nature of Anko's monetary gifts.
(Source: China News Service; Author: Zhu Yanhua)