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Forums row spurs Japan PM pay cut | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Japan's PM Shinzo Abe says he will work unpaid for the next 90 days, after it emerged that officials had paid people to ask questions at public meetings. | |
The government inquiry also found that at some of the meetings - held over the past five years - officials had pretended to be ordinary people. | |
Mr Abe, a cabinet minister at the time, was responsible for such meetings. | |
He said that as a way of assuming responsibility, he would return his salary for the next three months. | |
The cabinet office investigation said Japan's government under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid member of the public to ask questions to hear what people thought of their policies. | |
The revelations are embarrassing for the government and Mr Abe, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says. | |
For the cynics who believe that when any politician meets the public it is all stage-managed and choreographed, the news that the Japanese have been doing it will come as no surprise, our correspondent says. | |
He adds that the events, called town hall meetings, were supposed to be a new, more open forum for discussion between ministers and voters. | |
High cost | High cost |
But the inquiry found that officials coached people to make sure they asked ministers what the government wanted them to. | |
In some cases they actually paid people to question ministers, or pretended to be members of the public and questioned their bosses themselves. | In some cases they actually paid people to question ministers, or pretended to be members of the public and questioned their bosses themselves. |
The people in charge focused on the outward appearance rather than the original purpose of the town hall meetings, the inquiry's report said. | |
It will fan suspicions that public opinion was misled in order to promote government policy, our correspondent says. | |
But he says the report does not stop there. | |
The cost of these meetings, more than $188,000 (£95,000) each when they started, was high enough. | The cost of these meetings, more than $188,000 (£95,000) each when they started, was high enough. |
But it turns out that, on a number of occasions, officials padded the bills to suggest more government limousines were used than were actually needed to transport the VIPs. | But it turns out that, on a number of occasions, officials padded the bills to suggest more government limousines were used than were actually needed to transport the VIPs. |
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