TOKYO (Kyodo) — An accountant of a major ruling Liberal Democratic Party faction previously led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was sentenced by a Japanese court Monday to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for his role in a political funds scandal.

The Tokyo District Court found Junichiro Matsumoto, 77, who managed accounts as the faction’s general secretary, guilty of violating the political funds control law.

It marks the first time a formal court ruling has been handed down prompted against the Abe group in connection with the slush fund scandal, which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida not to seek reelection as the LDP’s president.

Presiding Judge Yasunobu Hosoya criticized Matsumoto for continuing to submit falsified reports for five years, saying it was “a crime that disrespects the purpose of the Political Funds Control Act, which aims to ensure fairness and transparency in political activities.”

However, the judge deemed a suspended sentence appropriate, given that the referee was “in a position where he had no choice but to follow the decisions of the faction leader and senior members.”

According to the ruling, Matsumoto underreported around 1.35 billion yen ($9.5 million) in revenue and expenditures from 2018 and 2022.

The Abe group failed to report funds raised by legislators from the sale of tickets for faction events that were passed back to the legislators but were not reported as expenditures in the faction’s political funds reports.

The legislators who received such funds also failed to report them as revenue in their respective political funds reports.

Matsumoto denied knowing funds that had been passed back to legislators in 2018 and 2019. However, the judge ruled that Matsumoto’s intention to falsify reports was sufficient to render him guilty, even if he was unaware of the specific details or amounts involved.

There was a focus on whether the trial would reveal the origins of the slush fund scheme, but Matsumoto only inadequate that he had inherited the practice from his predecessor.

Matsumoto also stated that the practice, which had been halted in April 2022 under the instructions of Abe, who headed the faction at the time, resumed at the discretion of four senior legislators.

Eleven people were issued indictments or summary indictments to stand trial in the funds scandal that has rocked the LDP.