Sources say secretaries of lawmakers belonging to the biggest faction in Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party have told investigators that they did not report income made by selling fundraising party tickets as they followed the faction's instructions.

The largest LDP faction was once led by the late former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

The majority of offices of the faction's lawmakers are believed to have received part of the party ticket sales as kickbacks when they exceeded their sales quotas of tickets. They are alleged to have failed to declare the money as income in their political fund reports.

The offices of Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu and five other senior officials are among those suspected.
The sources say the secretaries made the revelation during voluntary questioning with Tokyo prosecutors.

The total amount of kickbacks paid to offices of members in the Abe faction over the five years through 2022 is believed to amount to about 500 million yen, or about 3.4 million dollars.

The investigators are expected to interview dozens of people, including lawmakers of the Abe faction, from Thursday, following the closing of the Diet session on Wednesday.