Japan Press Weekly

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2016 November 16 - 22 [POLITICS]

Abe Cabinet minister comes under fire for money scandal

Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Tsuruho Yosuke on November 21 admitted to the allegation that he had exceeded the legal upper limit of receiving donations. He said that he had accepted the money in the form of the purchase of fund-raising party tickets from a vice chief of an organization which was later awarded a government subsidy.

The donor works for a nonprofit organization for the promotion of the tourist industry in Yamanashi. In January 2013 when Tsuruho was state minister in charge of tourism, the NPO official bought a total of two million yen worth of tickets for Tsuruho’s fund-raising party. The vice chief made the purchase under several different names.

The Political Funds Control Law prohibits a person from paying more than 1.5 million yen to buy tickets for a single political fund-raising party. The law also bans the use of different names to evade this rule.

Two months after the purchase, the NPO in question was chosen as a recipient for the Tourism Ministry’s subsidy program.

Past related article:
> Bribery of Amari dropped but Abe still responsible for holding the ex-minister accountable for scandal [June 5, 2016]