Three lawmakers of Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party appeared before the Upper House ethics council on Thursday.

On a money scandal that has impaired the party's reputation, dozens of LDP lawmakers have admitted that they did not declare fundraising revenue and took kickbacks.

Most of them belonged to the LDP's Abe faction, which was formerly led by the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
Seko Hiroshige was a senior member of the group, and he said he had absolutely no knowledge that the faction was not reporting some funds.

As the faction's leader, Abe decided to stop paying kickbacks to members in 2022. But the group continued the practice, after Abe was killed later that year.

Seko said he does not know who made that decision, and he has never attended a meeting where the decision was made to give cash back to faction members.

Another Abe faction lawmaker, Nishida Shoji, said he only learned about the kickbacks through media reports.

He said the senior members of the faction who overturned Abe's decision are the ones who should be held responsible, and they should make it clear how they intend to take responsibility.

Former Olympics and Paralympics minister Hashimoto Seiko also spoke on Thursday. She apologized for how the scandal had broken the public's trust in politics.

She said the Abe faction's practice of not declaring part of its revenue had likely been in place for a long time. But she also said she did not know about it until it was reported in the media.