Japan Press Weekly

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2016 May 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Tokyo governor must be held accountable for political fund scandal

Tokyo Governor Masuzoe Yoichi on May 13 held a press conference at the government office building. He apologized in regard to the allegation that the governor’s political fund management organization made false reports about the use of funds, but indicated no intention to resign from his post.

The allegation was reported in the May 11 issue of the weekly magazine, Shukan Bunshun.

According to the magazine, Masuzoe’s fund-management body in 2013 and 2014 paid a luxurious resort hotel in Chiba’s Kisarazu City for “meeting costs”, amounting to about 370,000 yen. However, this payment was allegedly made to cover the governor’s family trip, the magazine claimed. It also suspected that Masuzoe used political funds to enjoy fine dining with his family.

At the press conference, Masuzoe admitted that he and his family stayed at the hotel in question. Explaining the allegation about his use of political funds for private purposes, the governor said that his political fund management body mistakenly included his personal spending in its funds reports. He then expressed his intent to correct mistakes in the reports and return 460,000 yen to the fund-management organization which, however, was already dissolved.

Meanwhile, Masuzoe insisted that meetings took place during his stay at the hotel. However, asked by reporters about the details of the gatherings, such as the names and the number of the participants, he refused to answer and said, “I’ll leave it up to your imagination.”

The Political Funds Control Law bans false reporting with penalties of imprisonment without hard labor up to five years or fines of up to one million yen.

The governor should disclose all relevant information and be held accountable to the general public.