参院政倫審、橋本氏ら３人出席へ　出欠回答締め切り、１４日弁明―裏金事件

　参院政治倫理審査会は１２日午前、自民党派閥の政治資金パーティー裏金事件を受けた審査の実施に向け、同党参院議員ら３２人を対象にした出欠意向調査の回答を締め切った。野党は全員の出席を求めていたが、出席すると伝えたのは橋本聖子元五輪担当相ら３人にとどまった。弁明と質疑は１４日に行われる見通しだ。
　世耕弘成前参院幹事長と西田昌司参院議員は先に出席の意向を明らかにしている。３２人のうち２８人は出席を希望しないと答えた。１人は回答しなかった。
　政倫審の審査は(1)議員本人の申し出(2)委員の３分の１以上の申し立てと過半数の議決―のいずれかに基づいて開かれる。議員の申し出で行われた衆院と異なり、参院では野党の申し立てを受け、政倫審が８日に審査を議決。パーティー収入のキックバック（還流）や中抜きを政治資金収支報告書に記載していなかった３２人に出欠意向確認書を送り、１２日午前１１時までの回答を求めた。（2024/03/12-13:10）

Only three out of 32 invited Japanese lawmakers, mostly from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, have agreed to appear before a parliamentary political ethics panel over unreported funds, it was learned Tuesday.
   The Deliberative Council on Political Ethics of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament, sent attendance confirmation letters to the money scandal-hit members, asking them to make replies by 11 a.m. Tuesday. Other than the three, 28 declined to show up in council hearings and one did not respond. The invitees included one who left the LDP after being indicted over slush funds.
   Willing to explain their fund issues before the council are Hiroshige Seko, former LDP secretary-general for the Upper House, Seiko Hashimoto, former Tokyo Games minister, and Shoji Nishida. They all belong to the LDP's intraparty faction previously led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which is set to disband.
   The Upper House council, like its counterpart in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, can hold hearings when at least a third of its panel members request a lawmaker's attendance and over half of the attending members vote for it, or when lawmakers offer to attend hearings.
   Recent ethics panel hearings in the Lower House were held following offers by lawmakers. Meanwhile, the Upper House hearings will come after the panel voted to approve opposition members' request for lawmakers to attend them.