New scandal, things grow even worse for Abe
I think I've asked twice now if things could get any worse for Abe, and they always seem to. Remember Toshikatsu Matsuoka, the farm minister who commited suicide after being faced with various scandals. It looks like his replacement is also embroiled in a pretty serious scandal now. Using tax dollars, he pretended to be paying rent on an office in his home prefecture, but in fact, he did no such thing. Over the last eight years, we're talking about a figure over half a million dollars. Uh oh.
Here's the article:
- Utility cost scandal hits farm minister Akagi
A political funds scandal surfaced Saturday involving farm minister Norihiko Akagi, who took over the post in June after his predecessor committed suicide amid a similar scandal, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before the upper house election later this month.
The home of Akagi's parents in Chikusei, Ibaraki Prefecture, was registered as the office of a political organization supporting him and some 76 million yen was booked as rent, utilities and other costs from 1998 to 2005, sources familiar with the issue said.
"I've never received any rent," Akagi's father told Kyodo News. "My house has not been used as the office."
The organization submitted political funds reports to the Ibaraki prefectural election board, in which it said its office is in the home of Akagi's parents.
In the eight-year period to 2005, a total of 13.9 million yen was registered as rent, 43.9 million yen as personnel costs, 6.7 million yen as utility costs and 11.5 million yen as other miscellaneous costs, according to the reports.
"I was not aware that my house had been registered as an office," Akagi's father said.
"There has been no staff member on duty and during past election campaigns, there were no activities."
As the home was not the office and the spending is fictitious, doubts have arisen that the spending was misappropriated.
Opinions expressed in comment section are the opinions of the author only. Because of a spam problem comments are currently off.
Well, hypothetically, a pack
Well, hypothetically, a pack of giant mutant zombie wolves could.... wait, no that wouldn't really make things much worse. The guy's not resignign, and Abe is once again protecting the minister at fault... and DPJ are still only a few points ahead??? What's wrong with Japan?
Abe's clearly between a rock
Abe's clearly between a rock and a hard place here. Kyuma just resigned, the elections right around the corner.
I don't know what the real story is, but it with Akagi's own father contradicting him, things don't look good for him.
By not making him resign immediately, Akagi's fancy bookkeeping might continue to make headlines as we go into the election. That's about the last thing Abe needs.
So it will be interesting to see how this story develops.
You mean, how could it get
You mean, how could it get worse without flesh-eating bacteria getting involved? I guess Taro Aso could start opening his mouth again...
According to the BBC, Abe's
According to the BBC, Abe's defence of his minister was:
Oh. Well that's alright then.
Er, that should have
Er, that should have read:
"There is nothing wrong with it," the prime minister told a TV interviewer, adding that "many lawmakers are doing the same thing".
Good grief! What did he mean
Good grief! What did he mean by that?
Here's the link by the way:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070709a4.html
He couldn't possibly have meant we're all a bunch of crooks anyway so what's the big deal ... So what did he mean?
That the accounting method used is justified in some way?
If I have time later I'll try to find the quote in Japanese, along with the context.
[...] Former Defense Minister
[...] Former Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio’s now-infamous statement [Ja] that the U.S. atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two “could not be helped“, subsequent qualifications [Ja] aside, has been widely seen as a major gaff, leaving the ruling Abe government in yet another mess. With only weeks to go before upcoming Upper House elections at the end of this month, some are arguing that this may be the fatal bombshell for the ruling LDP coalition. Kyuma, already famous for his embarrassing flip-flop statements regarding Japan’s decision to enter the Iraq War, has become the third cabinet minister in the Abe government to have to be replaced (after the resignation of Sata Genichiro and the suicide of Matsuoka Toshikatsu). On top of which, as if that were not enough, there appear to be more coming. [...]