Tokyo
CNN
—
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered an investigation into the Unification Church amid a rising scandal tying his ruling Liberal Democratic Occasion (LDP) to the controversial spiritual group.
Kishida introduced the probe throughout a parliamentary session on Monday and stated it might be carried out utilizing “the proper to ask questions” provision of the Non secular Companies Act.
As of September 30, Kishida stated a phone hotline established earlier that month had obtained greater than 1,700 session requests concerning the church.
The federal government “has severely taken into consideration the numerous victims, the poverty and damaged households that haven’t been supplied with enough assist,” he stated. He added it was tough to say when the probe would finish.
The federal government will convene a gathering subsequent week to look at the situations for the inquiry, the primary established beneath “the proper to ask questions.”
The Unification Church, formally referred to as the Household Federation for World Peace and Unification, rose to prominence within the late Fifties, and had turn into a worldwide group by the Eighties. It continues to make worldwide headlines for its mass weddings, during which hundreds of younger {couples} tie the knot on the identical time, with some brides and grooms assembly one another for the primary time on their marriage ceremony day.
The church, which remains to be outstanding in components of Asia, has come beneath heightened world scrutiny since former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in central Japan in July.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on the time that the suspect had focused the previous prime minister as a result of he believed Abe’s grandfather – one other former chief of the nation – had helped the growth of a non secular group he held a grudge in opposition to.
CNN has not been in a position to independently affirm what group Yamagami was referring to, or any hyperlinks between Abe and any group the suspect harbored hatred in direction of.
However the Unification Church spoke out within the aftermath, saying the suspect’s mom had been a member who attended its occasions about as soon as a month. A spokesperson stated he had realized the suspect’s mom was having monetary difficulties round 2002, however added: “We don’t know what the causes had been or how they affected the household circumstances.”
The suspect himself was by no means a member of the church, stated the spokesperson.
The church stated it had obtained a message of assist from Abe at an occasion it organized, however that the previous prime minister was not a registered church member, nor did he sit on its advisory board. It added it was puzzled by studies of alleged resentment held in opposition to the group by the suspect, and that it might “cooperate absolutely” with police.
However public suspicion towards the group – and a backlash over its fundraising practices – proceed to rise after an investigation in August by Japan’s ruling LDP discovered greater than half of its lawmakers had ties with the church.
A number of high-ranking officers, together with former protection minister Nobuo Kishi, stated they’d obtained assist in previous elections from church members.
Kishida has purged these officers and apologized for his or her reported hyperlinks to the church, pledging to chop his get together’s ties to the group.
Relying on the result of the upcoming investigation and a court docket judgment, the Unification Church may lose its standing as a non secular company and subsequent tax advantages, NHK reported on Monday. The group, nonetheless, may nonetheless function as an entity.
