Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to be grilled in parliament on Wednesday after she said a day earlier that she had distributed congratulatory gift catalogs to all Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers elected in the Feb. 8 Lower House poll.

In a post on X, Takaichi said that no state grants for the LDP were used for the gift catalogs distributed to the LDP lawmakers in the powerful lower chamber of parliament.

Her comments came after a report in the Shukan Bunshun magazine's online edition Tuesday.

Opposition parties are expected to question the prime minister on the matter in parliament amid lingering public distrust over the issue of money and politics, including a high-profile slush fund scandal involving the LDP.

The prime minister said on X that the LDP's branch in the No. 2 constituency in Nara Prefecture, which she heads, donated the gifts to all LDP Lower House members to express its gratitude and congratulations for their victories in the election, in which the LDP won a landslide victory, so that they can use them for future activities.

Commenting on the matter, Junya Ogawa, leader of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, told reporters that "it's hard to believe." Accountability, including financial resources, will be severely questioned, he added.

In March last year, then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba came under fire for distributing gift vouchers worth ¥100,000 to LDP lawmakers elected for the first time in the 2024 Lower House election, drawing criticism from opposition parties and others.

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