Tokyo Metropolitan Police believe that Irie, 63, and Kyoka Sugawara, 25, a representative of a social networking site management company, paid a total of more than 10 people more than 450,000 yen while knowing that this was illegal.
The suspects have been accused of violating the Public Offices Election Act regarding bribery. In the latest development, investigators said on Saturday that Sugawara had asked campaigners not to disclose their compensation.
Irie is a former Fuji TV employee who served two terms as a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member. On February 8, she ran for the Democratic Party for the People in Tokyo’s 7th District. However, she lost her bid.
According to investigators, she asked Sugawara to recruit campaigners in January. Sugawara is believed to have recruited mainly interns at her management company at a daily wage of 10,000 yen. The cash payments were transferred to the company’s account by 63-year-old Yoshiko Sato, Irie’s campaign accountant. Sato was also arrested.
Following the arrest, the party’s leader, Yuichiro Tamaki, posted on X, “If true, this is an extremely regrettable incident that undermines the fairness of the election. I apologize.”
