Japan’s prime minister has named a replacement for a Cabinet minister who resigned over health issues and reports that he associated with gangsters and accepted questionable donations.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said on Wednesday that Makoto Taki will return to the justice ministry. Taki had left the post after a Cabinet reshuffle October 1, but his replacement resigned on Tuesday.
Keishu Tanaka had been hospitalised for an irregular heartbeat and other health problems, but had also been at the centre of allegations he accepted questionable political funds and was a go-between in the wedding of an organised crime figure 30 years ago.
Tanaka’s resignation was seen as another blow to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s unpopular administration.