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Agence France-Presse

Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said Monday he was returning a year’s salary after his ministry scrubbed public documents related to a cronyism scandal that has dogged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
But he ruled out resigning after it emerged ministry officials had removed hundreds of references to Abe, his wife, and Aso from documents related to the sale of state land at below-market prices.
“I am voluntarily returning 12 months of my salary as a cabinet minister, as this problem has hurt public confidence in the finance ministry and the administration as a whole,” Taro Aso said.
But he added: “I am not thinking about stepping down”, as he announced the findings of the ministry’s in-house probe.
Aso is the richest minister in Abe’s cabinet because of his family’s massive fortune made in the mining business.
He also earns some 30 million yen (US$274,000) a year as a cabinet minister.
Aso said the ministry had penalised around 20 officials, imposing pay cuts in some cases and issuing verbal reprimands to others.

“Officially approved administrative documents should never have been altered and submitted to parliament. I find this extremely regrettable,” he said.
Abe told reporters he wanted Aso to stay on to ensure lessons were learned from the scandal.
“We should conduct a through review of how to keep public documents and take measures to prevent a recurrence,” he said, adding that he wanted Aso “to take leadership in this and fulfil his responsibility”.
The scandal revolves around the 2016 cut-price sale of state-owned land to a nationalist school operator who claims ties to Abe and his wife Akie.
The penalised officials include Nobuhisa Sagawa, whose office helped alter key documents related to the controversial land sale. He has since resigned.
Giving sworn testimony in parliament soon after he quit the ministry in March, Sagawa denied any involvement by Abe or the prime minister’s office in falsifying the documents.
But the senior bureaucrat declined to answer detailed questioning about how and when documents were altered, saying he was under criminal investigation.
Prosecutors last week decided not to press charges against him.
Abe also faces a second cronyism scandal in which the opposition alleges he used his influence to help an old friend open a school in a special economic zone, bypassing cumbersome government regulations.
Abe, in power since late 2012, is in no imminent danger of losing his job, but the scandals have affected his popularity.
A new opinion poll released Monday showed voter support for his cabinet down 1.6 percentage points over the past month to 39 per cent, the lowest level since he took office.
The finance ministry, considered the most powerful in Japan’s bureaucracy, has also been rocked by a sexual abuse scandal that forced the resignation of a senior official.


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Japan

Japan’s richest minister Taro Aso returns year’s salary as heads roll in cronyism scandal

Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso has taken a voluntary one-year salary cut after 20 officials were penalised for tampering with documents. File photo: AFP

epa06734727 Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso (L) listens to a question as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) reacts during the Lower House budget committee at parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 14 May 2018. Abe is now under fire following domestic scandals on cronyism allegations and Aso is being criticized for his comments on sexual harassment allegations against a top official of his ministry. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Japan’s education chief denies ‘sexy private yoga’ claims as scandals stack up against Prime Minster Abe

Yoshimasa Hayashi, member of House of Councillor, Liberal Democratic Party, Japan, meets with Legco members at the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters in Tokyo on March 28, 2018, after parliament enacted a record 97.71 trillion yen ($926 billion) budget for fiscal 2018. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan: defiant PM Shinzo Abe hits back over cover-up scandal as popularity dives

Poll shows Shinzo Abe’s approval rating has nosedived to 31 per cent – the lowest since his return to power at the end of 2012

A man holds a placard reading: "Quit, Abe cabinet!" as he attends a rally denouncing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso over a suspected cover-up of a cronyism scandal, near Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Akie Abe, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, attends a welfare event in Tokai, central Japan, on March 17, 2018. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hit back on Monday at critics over a favouritism and cover-up scandal that has seen his popularity plunge and loosened his iron grip on power. Photo: Reuters

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Losing a year’s salary won’t mean much to Taro Aso financially, given he was born into Japan’s elite and is independently wealthy


Shinzo Abe

Japan’s richest minister Taro Aso returns year’s salary as heads roll in cronyism scandal

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Losing a year’s salary won’t mean much to Taro Aso financially, given he was born into Japan’s elite and is independently wealthy

Losing a year’s salary won’t mean much to Taro Aso financially, given he was born into Japan’s elite and is independently wealthy