Japan Press Weekly

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2012 October 24 - 30 [POLITICS]

Yakuza-connected justice minister resigns

Justice Minister Tanaka Keishu on October 23 resigned from the Cabinet for his “ill-health” within a month since the inauguration of the reshuffled Cabinet after the revelation that he had illegally received political donations from a foreigner and had cozy ties with an organized crime syndicate came to light.

His resignation will inevitably call into question Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko’s responsibility for appointing him as a Cabinet minister and not dismissing him even after the allegations came to the surface.

Tanaka is the second minister who resigned from the Noda Cabinet and the eighth in the Democratic Party of Japan-led government.

Only three days after taking office, Tanaka was found to have accepted donations from a foreign enterprise which is against the law and his connection with the underworld also came out in the open shortly after that.

Amid increasing doubts regarding his qualification as a minister in charge of the justice system, Tanaka stayed away from an Upper House committee meeting on October 18 due to supposed “official duties”. He did not show up at another committee again on next day for the reason of “ill-health”. He kept dodging responding to the allegations.

Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji at a press conference on October 23 said, “He must resign,” and criticized the Cabinet for “neglecting to disclose the truth even after the suspicion became public.”

Referring to Article 63 of the Constitution requiring Cabinet ministers to appear before Diet committees when asked for answers or explanations, Kokuta stated that his absence from the committees “is outrageous since he is attempting to cover up his links with the gangster under the excuse of ‘ill-health’.”

Kokuta added, “The Cabinet’s irresponsible behavior will also be severely called into question.”