On Sunday, Japanese prosecutors made the initial arrests in a funding scandal that led Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to replace four ministers last month, according to local reports.

Japanese media outlets, including Jiji Press, reported that Yoshitaka Ikeda, a 57-year-old lawmaker from the ruling party, was detained on suspicion of violating the political funds control law.
 
According to reports, Ikeda, along with his 45-year-old secretary, who was also arrested, is under suspicion of receiving kickbacks totaling around 48 million yen ($330,000).

Last month, Kishida sacked the top government spokesperson, the trade minister, and two other ministers over a failure to report political funds as required by law. The arrests came after Tokyo public prosecutors raided offices belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last month.
 
Reportedly disaffiliated from the LDP following his arrest, Ikeda was once part of the party's largest faction, previously led by the late ex-premier Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last year. That said, all four former ministers who were dismissed last month were also members of the same faction.

It's noteworthy that prosecutors have reportedly been investigating five out of the six LDP factions for alleged unreported political funds. This includes interviewing officials responsible for the factions' accounts.

Kishida resigned as LDP chief

Kishida's poll ratings are at their lowest since the LDP regained power in 2012. This decline is attributed to voter discontent regarding inflation and his management of a series of previous scandals.
 
The arrest coincides with the government's urgent efforts to rescue survivors of a magnitude 7.5 New Year's Day earthquake in central Japan. But neither the prosecutors nor LDP officials could be immediately reached to confirm the reports.

Earlier last month, the Kochikai faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan witnessed the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as its leader amid a scandal entailing years of hiding income and expenditure from ticket sales for fundraising events.

As quoted by a Japanese broadcaster on Thursday, Kishida said, "I want to take the initiative and work hard to restore trust in the party's politics. So this is why I have made the decision to leave the faction during my term as Prime Minister and LDP President".