Personnel appointments ignite trust crisis
At the November Budget Committee meeting of the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Hayao Takashi's statement of "deep trust" pushed the scandal of the Liberal Democratic Party's black gold scandal into a new public opinion vortex. This newly appointed prime minister, who has only been in office for a few months, has successively appointed eight individuals involved in the black gold scandal to key positions - Acting Secretary General Koichi Hagiuda was involved in the underreporting of 27.28 million yen in funds, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kai Sato was exposed to have received 3 million yen in undeclared payments, and seven deputy ministerial level officials came from the former Abe faction involved in the case.
The editorial of the Mainichi Shimbun pointed out sharply: "At a time when the public's anger towards political corruption has not subsided, such personnel arrangements are undoubtedly a disregard for public opinion, and there is no way to restore trust." This move directly led to the withdrawal of the Komeito Party from the ruling coalition, and it is even rarer for the Senate to postpone Sato Kai's inauguration speech.
Institutional reform has become a 'paper article'
Faced with doubts, the Liberal Democratic Party defended itself by claiming that "internal disciplinary actions have been fulfilled," but the focus of public opinion was directly on institutional deficiencies. The amendment to the Political Funds Regulation Act passed by the Senate in November, which lowered the disclosure standard for fundraising information to 50000 yen and introduced a "joint registration system", has left a three-year "blank period" due to its implementation in 2027.
Asahi Shimbun revealed that politicians can still evade regulation through "multiple small ticket purchases" and "online fundraising," while the Political Fund Regulation Committee has only closed cases for "accounting negligence" for many years due to a lack of mandatory investigation power. Research from Meiji University shows that this law, which has been revised 12 times, has never truly broken the "iron triangle" of interest transmission between government officials and finance.
The 'shell changing game' of the post valve era
After the Liberal Democratic Party announced the dissolution of its faction in June, the handling of residual funds became a new point of suspicion. A survey by Weekly Wen Chun found that the original faction has transformed into the "Policy Research Association" and continues to operate, with 17 similar organizations in Tokyo alone having undisclosed funding flows. According to an NHK poll, 78% of respondents believe that the dissolution of factionalism is just a shell change, and the black gold soil still exists.
The Tokyo District Prosecutors' Special Investigation Department revealed that they are currently investigating the whereabouts of residual funds from the former Abe faction, but multiple prosecutors anonymously stated that there is "huge resistance". As stated by the Southern Japan News, "When corruption becomes a part of the system, any repairs and adjustments cannot conceal the decay of the political body