{"id":178642,"date":"2026-07-10T13:10:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=178642&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-07-10T13:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:10:55","slug":"assembly-orders-independent-probe","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/assembly-orders-independent-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Assembly Orders Independent Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly agreed on July 8 to interview all current members as part of an independent investigation into allegations that cash payments were exchanged in connection with the selection of the assembly speaker. Representatives of the assembly\u2019s four main political groups approved the plan, which will be carried out by outside experts, including lawyers and former police officials, with interviews expected to begin as early as next week. Former Speaker Motoaki Yoshimatsu has claimed he paid more than \u00a518 million before taking office, while current and former assembly leaders have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Several lawmakers again rejected the allegations on July 8 and disputed Yoshimatsu\u2019s account. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.web.nhk\/newsweb\/na\/nb-5010034102\" target=\"_blank\">NHK News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvq.co.jp\/news\/news.html?did=2026070800000003\" target=\"_blank\">TVQ News<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-exchange_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C783&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"783\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-178643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-exchange_2026_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-exchange_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-exchange_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C573&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-exchange_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C430&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: TVQ News<\/p>\n<p>Get Fukuoka and Kyushu\u2019s top stories delivered to your inbox. The Now is Fukuoka Now\u2019s free biweekly newsletter featuring local news, events, culture, business, and community updates in English. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">Subscribe to The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly agreed on July 8 to interview all current members as part of an independent investigation into allegations that cash payments were exchanged in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":178643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-178642","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-politics","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/178642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}