Japan Press Weekly

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2016 June 15 - 21 [POLITICS]

Tokyo Governor Masuzoe resigns over political money scandals

Tokyo Governor Masuzoe Yoichi on June 15 announced his resignation due to growing criticism over his political money scandals from Tokyoites and political parties.

The Japanese Communist Party was the first to point out the governor’s misuse of public funds. The JCP Metropolitan Assembly Members’ Group on April 7 revealed that Masuzoe had spent an excessively large amount of taxpayers’ money on his official overseas trips.

This served as the beginning of numerous revelations of scandals, including his misappropriation of an official car and political funds for his private use. The JCP has urged Masuzoe to disclose all the relevant information as well as to step down from his post.

On June 13, the JCP announced its intention to introduce a no-confidence motion against the governor. Amid mounting public criticism, the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, which had supported Masuzoe in the 2014 gubernatorial election, decided to support the JCP’s suit. In the end, all political parties in the assembly jointly submitted a no-confidence motion.

In the June 15 plenary meeting of the Metropolitan Assembly, the JCP along with a local political party, Tokyo Seikatsusha Net, proposed establishing a powerful investigation commission based on Article 100 of the Local Autonomy Act. However, the proposal was voted down by the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic parties. They turned their back on the public call for an independent probe into the matter.

After the assembly meeting, JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblyperson Oyama Tomoko said that it is regrettable that the JCP proposal to establish an investigation commission was rejected. Stressing that clarifying how Masuzoe actually used public funds is essential to prevent a recurrence of such money scandals, Oyama said that those who opposed the proposal cannot avoid criticism from Tokyoites.

The JCP lawmaker mentioned a problem that when Masuzoe stayed in a luxurious hotel during the New Year holidays, he used his political funds to pay the hotel bills. She quoted Masuzoe as saying in response to JCP’s inquiry that the hotel charges were paid for “meeting costs” on the grounds that he held meetings in the hotel over his candidacy in the gubernatorial election as part of his political activities. However, Oyama went on to say, the governor refused to disclose the names of those who attended the alleged meeting and failed to prove that he actually received any visitors.

Oyama raised one more point: the JCP looked into Masuzoe’s political funds reports and found that detailed statements had been deleted from some of the receipts in the reports, which amounts to a violation of the Political Funds Control Act.

Oyama stated that the JCP will continue to work to obtain a clear picture of the whole issue. She concluded that the party will promote cooperation with a wide range of political parties, organizations, and citizens in order to make the metropolitan government more people-oriented.

Past related articles:
> Tokyo Governor Masuzoe should fully account for his money scandals [June 2, 2016]
> JCP Tokyo submits written question to governor on his alleged misuse of political funds [May 19 and 20, 2016]
> Tokyo JCP criticizes governor for taking luxurious overseas trips [April 8, 2016]