Japan Press Weekly

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2016 November 30 - December 6 [POLITICS]

Minister Tsuruho has corrupt relation with gov’t subsidy recipient

The allegation has been made that Tsuruho Yosuke, Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, received political donations in return for giving advantage to an NPO which applied for grant-aided projects. Akahata reported this on December 3.

According to Akahata, in January 2013, a deputy director of a tourism-related NPO based in Yamanashi Prefecture purchased tickets at a cost of two million yen to attend a fund-raising party hosted by Tsuruho who served as a Senior Vice Minister of Tourism at that time.

Two months later, the NPO was awarded a contract for a project subsidized by the Japan Tourism Agency which is affiliated with the Tourism Ministry. In February 2014, it won an additional contract on the same project.

The NPO deputy director testified that he met with Tsuruho in the ministry building just five days after he bought the party tickets. Meanwhile, Tsuruho claims that he “returned” the two million yen to the NPO, denying the allegation that he used his political power to provide special favors to the organization.

Akahata looked into the political funds reports between 2013 and 2015 and found that Tsuruho’s political fund management body sold party tickets amounting to nearly 90 million yen in those three years. The sum the NPO in question paid for Tsuruho’s party tickets during that period accounts for about 10% of the total amount. This fact suggests that the minister and the NPO have been working in collusion.

Tsuruho should provide a clear explanation to the general public.

Past related article:
> Abe Cabinet minister comes under fire for money scandal [November 22, 2016]