TOKYO, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Former Cabinet ministers and lawmakers implicated in money and gift scandals in attendance at Japan's 150-day parliamentary session beginning Monday largely kept schtum on matters that will see them grilled by opposition parties in the days ahead.
Japanese upper house lawmaker Anri Kawai, whose election campaign office is suspected of trying to conceal illegally high payments made to staff members during her upper house election campaign last summer, told reporters she would provide more details forthwith.
"I will explain when investigations are done," Anri Kawai said Monday.
Kawai, 46, wife of former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai, won a seat for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in last July's upper house election.
Her office, however, may have tried to hide illegally high payments made to staff during the campaign by splitting the amounts over two receipts.
Her office is suspected of paying staff members double the legal amount, with daily allowance payments made to a group of staff members campaigning on her behalf totaling 30,000 yen (272 U.S. dollars).
The payments may be in violation of Japan's election law and could be considered a form of bribery, sources with knowledge of the matter have said.
Prosecutors a day earlier had searched her offices and those of her husband, LDP member and ex-Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai.
Following the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine first reporting about the scandal, then Justice Minister Kawai resigned last October.
The pair, however, have both said they will not step down as lawmakers or LDP members.
"I feel deeply sorry for harming public trust in politics. I should refrain from comment as investigations are under way," ex-Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai told reporters as the parliamentary session got underway.
Former trade minister Isshu Sugawara, meanwhile, who resigned only days before Katsuyuki Kawai over allegations that he violated the election law by giving a supporter in his Tokyo constituency a cash handout as well as gifts to his supporters, was also in attendance Monday.
Sugawara made his first public appearance for about three months in the Diet on Monday owing to claims of a sleeping disorder. He apologized for resigning, but refrained from giving details on the matter except for stating that a criminal complaint against him had been filed with Tokyo prosecutors.
"I apologize for my resignation causing a stir and trouble to many people," Sugawara said. "If requested by the authorities, I will cooperate sincerely. I'd like to explain the whole story at an appropriate time," Sugawara told a swarm of reporters.
Sugawara, who held his post in the Cabinet for less than a month, according to allegations also made by the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine, offered 20,000 yen (182 U.S. dollars) to a bereaved family in mid-October.
Sugawara's office also sent flowers to the funerals of numerous bereaved families, according to the magazine. He is also alleged to have handed out free melons and crabs as gifts to his supporters in another scoop carried in the weekly magazine.
In the days ahead in the Diet, opposition parties are also gearing up to grill Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leader of the scandal-hit LDP over contentious cherry blossom viewing parties paid for from the government's coffers.
They will also be taking aim at Abe and the LDP for a more recent bribery scandal related to Japan's plans to introduce integrated casinos resorts here.
