It has been a week since the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe on the 15th. Where and how did the religious group to which the suspect's mother made large donations spend the money collected from its followers? The flow of that money is gradually becoming clear. ◇The mother says, "I am the cause." ◇Destination of the "donations"◇World politicians will also explain the above three points in detail. ◇ ■The mother says, "I am sorry that my son committed the crime." She did not criticize the religious group. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami (41), has long held a grudge against the religious group "World Peace Unification Family Federation," also known as the "Unification Church," which his mother was deeply involved in. According to investigators, the mother said in police questioning, "I am sorry that my son committed the crime." However, she did not criticize the religious group. According to a member of the religious group who contacted Yamagami's mother immediately after the incident, the mother said in tears, "I am sorry to Mr. Abe, his family, and the SPs." He said, "I'm sorry, I'm the one who caused this," and seemed quite depressed. ■ Total donations of about 100 million yen The source of funds was insurance money from the suspect's father and real estate from his grandfather It is known that Yamagami's mother donated about 100 million yen to the cult, but Yamagami's uncle spoke to NNN and revealed the actual donations and how some of them were returned. According to the uncle, Yamagami's mother donated 20 million yen when she joined the cult, 30 million yen shortly after, and another 10 million yen about three years later, for a total of 60 million yen. This was the source of the funds. In addition, Yamagami's late father donated 40 million yen from real estate, including the company land and his home that he inherited from his grandfather, bringing the total to 100 million yen. Later, when Yamagami's mother filed for bankruptcy, a relative asked the cult to "provide a list of donations," and the cult replied, "Please be patient with 50 million yen." ■ "Going to hell" A clever way of collecting donations The mother made large donations, but how does the cult collect these donations? When I spoke to a former female believer, I could see the clever way they collected money. The woman continued to make donations because the cult told her, "If you don't donate, you will go to hell, for the sake of our ancestors' memorial service." ■ Victims of spiritual scams continue There are many other cases of victimization, such as "carrot condensate," that are surprising, such as "for this price!?" According to the National Association of Lawyers for Countermeasures against Spiritual Scams and consumer centers nationwide, between 2017 and 2021, there were 25 cases of victimization of "pots," which the woman mentioned above also bought, with damages of about 74.6 million yen, 10 cases of victimization of "paintings and art objects," with damages of about 9.98 million yen, and 32 cases of victimization of "jewelry and furs," with damages of 20.65 million yen. In addition, there is also something called "carrot condensate." The details are unclear as to whether it was simply carrot juice or a concentrated extract of Korean carrots, but the damage from these 20 cases was about 12 million yen, or about 610,000 yen per case. In response to these claims, the cult said, "We have not had any trouble since 2009 that would violate the spiritual sales law," and their claims are completely at odds. ■ Most of the money is sent to the headquarters in Korea More than 50% of the total money comes from Japan. We spoke to lawyer Masaki Kito, who has been working on this issue for many years, about what happens to the money collected. According to lawyer Kito, Japanese cults have two wallets, one for the money collected through "spiritual sales" and one for "donations." After deducting the actual costs of the cult's operations, most of the remaining money is sent to the headquarters in Korea or brought directly in cash. The money collected there is then distributed to the cult's branches around the world and used for the activities of each cult. It is said that the money collected by Japanese cults and sent to Korea accounts for at least 50% of the world total. ■Korean cult headquarters: "We will send money if there is something special" On the 15th, we interviewed the Korean cult headquarters, which allows money to be sent from Japan. A cult leader said about the money, "Even if it's not a lot, we can send a certain portion from each country to the headquarters as operating funds. And we will send it (to the headquarters) if there is something special or an event," and allowed the money to be sent from Japan. ■The trigger for the crime...A meeting with a friendly organization Former President Trump also sent a message Yamagami said, "I decided to kill him after seeing a message sent by former Prime Minister Abe to a member of the cult," but it is said that the trigger for the crime was a video message sent by former Prime Minister Abe to a friendly organization of the cult. In fact, former US President Trump also sent a message to this meeting. According to the lawyers, there are also photos of the cult's founder shaking hands and talking amicably with former US Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, three generations later. Professor Yoshihide Sakurai of Hokkaido University, who specializes in the sociology of religion, said, "There is no better 'advertiser' than this." "When a former prime minister-level politician sends a message to an event, it makes it easier to carry out subsequent activities." Attorney Kito also pointed out that religious organizations are valuable to politicians as they provide them with funds for their activities. In other words, it seems that both religious organizations and politicians are making good use of each other. ◇ If the donations that believers have collected by borrowing money or breaking up their families are being sent abroad or used by politicians both at home and abroad, this negative chain must be broken somewhere. The issues of religion and politics that this incident has highlighted also need to be clarified. (From "news every." broadcast on July 15, 2022) #FormerPMAbeShooting #FormerPMAbe #Nara #ShinzoAbe #NTV #newsevery #News ◇NTV News Bureau's social media Twitter / news24ntv TikTok / ntv.news Facebook / ntvnews24 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ntv_news24/... ◇[Latest news now available] NTV NEWS https://news.ntv.co.jp/ Community post on 2022/07/18