Tomio Okamura called on to repay Dawn party funds

Breakaway members of the Dawn political party have called on the party’s founder and chairman Tomio Okamura to return around 560,000 crowns in unauthorised party funds. A commission into the party’s finances led by lower house of parliament member Jiří Štětina said that the spending on advertising and publicity for elections has not been approved by the party’s governing committee but was decided by Okamura alone. Interest to the tune of 200,000 on a bank loan was also outstanding, he said. Štětina said the party coffers are almost bare although around 3.6 million is owed to suppliers and around 6.6 million crowns to the bank. The party split in February with most members of parliament saying they would create a new party and organisation with or without Okamura’s support. On Tuesday, the breakaway lawmakers expelled Okamura from their parliamentary group. Okamura has denied accusations about his use of party funds.