Japanese prime minister under pressure over political donations
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Version 0 of 1. Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has denied any knowledge ofreceiving donations from firms that had received government subsidies,as he attempted to dodge allegations over financial impropriety thathave felled three of his ministers in recent months.Japanese media said Abe’s constituency Liberal Democratic party [LDP]received 620,000 yen (US$5000) from two chemical companies in 2012 and 13,within a year of being awarded government subsidies.It is illegal for Japanese politicians to receive donations from firmsless than a year of being notified that they will receive statesubsidies.But politicians will not face criminal charges if they can prove theywere unaware that the firms involved are to be awarded subsidies.Abe will be keen to avoid a repeat of his disastrous first term asprime minister, which ended after just one year following a slew of ministerial scandals.On Wednesday, senior officials moved quickly to limit the fallout fromreports suggesting that his justice, environment and educationministers had received questionable donations. All three have deniedany wrongdoing.Last week, the agriculture minister, Koya Nishikawa, quit afterquestions were raised over his political fundraising. His replacement,Yoshimasa Hayashi, admitted receiving money from firms that had beenawarded state cash but said he was unaware of the subsidies at thetime.The economy minister, Akira Amari, meanwhile, said he would return120,000 yen he received from a company that received state subsidies.Abe acknowledged that his constituency party in Yamaguchi prefecture,southwest Japan, had received the donations, but told a parliamentarypanel: “I really didn’t know what I didn’t know, and I can’t say morethan that.”He added: “It is a problem if politicians exercise their politicalpower to respond to a request in exchange for money,” but did notindicate if he would return the donations.Abe, a conservative who took office in late 2012 promising to lift theeconomy out of two decades of stagnation and give Japan a moreprominent role in international affairs, has lost three cabinetcolleagues to scandals since last year.In addition to Nishikawa’s resignation last week, two ministers quiton the same day last October over alleged misuse of political funds.Analysts said the current donations scandal was unlikely to inflictlasting damage on Abe, whose approval ratings are above 50 percent –high for a Japanese leader who has been in power for more than twoyears.He is also likely to benefit from similar allegations being madeagainst the leader of the country’s main opposition party, KatsuyaOkada, whose constituency party received 240,000 yen in donations froma firm in receipt of state subsidies.“If this is the scope, I don’t think there will be much impact [onAbe],” said Atsuo Ito, an independent political analyst. |