Japan Press Weekly

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2018 May 30 - June 5 [POLITICS]

Koike: Finance Minister incapable of disclosing truth behind Moritomo-related documents scandal

Finance Minister Aso Taro on June 4 remarked, “It would be easy, if I knew that,” in response to questions from the press about the reason for the occurrence of the discarding of and alteration of Moritomo-related documents.

Aso made this remark during the question-and-answer session with reporters after he read out a report regarding the ministry’s investigation of the cause of the matter in which documents related to the national land sale to Moritomo Gakuen were either scrapped or doctored.

The report, however, described events that occurred after Prime Minister Abe on February 17, 2017 in the Diet said that if his wife Akie or he himself were found to be linked with the land sale scandal, he would resign as Prime Minister and as a Dietmemter. One of the events described in the report is that following PM Abe’s resignation remark, the Finance Ministry began its search for documents containing the first lady’s name. Another is that the ministry’s Financial Bureau and the Land Ministry Civil Aviation Bureau, both of which took charge of the land sale to Moritomo, had a meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide on February 22, 2017.

Aso’s remark indicated that he might have read the ministry’s report without becoming aware that the report implied that the ministry committed controversial acts with the aim of concealing Akie’s involvement in the Moritomo favoritism scandal.

Asked by the press in the Diet building for comments on Aso’s remark, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira said, “As the Finance Minister, he is totally irresponsible. His remark has all but admitted that the ministry’s investigation has no meaning. Aso must be forced to step down.”

Koike stressed, “I can’t imagine that in the Finance Ministry, bureaucrats are at liberty to deliver statements in the parliament and other officials are allowed to falsify official documents at their individual discretion. It is obvious that the disposal and falsification of Moritomo-related documents took place under control of the ministry.”

Criticizing Finance Minister Aso as being incapable of disclosing the full details of the matter, Koike said, “Aso should resign.”

Past related articles:
> Release of Moritomo-related records corners PM Abe [ May 24, 2018]
> Koike: Sagawa falls far short of providing answers regarding ‘Moritomo’ scandal [ March 28, 2018]
> PM Abe's statements to Diet trigger doctoring of 'Moritomo'-related official records [ March 14, 2018]