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Shinzo Abe rocked by yet another Cabinet scandal

Just a week after naming a new Cabinet in an effort to regain public trust, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was hit yesterday with yet another scandal -- calls for his environment minister to resign over misreported funds.

It was the sixth scandal for a Cabinet member in Abe's first year. Four have resigned -- including one this week -- and one killed himself in May.

In the latest fracas, Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita acknowledged an organization managing his political funds borrowed ?12 million (US$103,570) from him by 1997, but reported borrowing only ?10 million.

Later the group reported borrowing a total of ?23 million from him, but Kamoshita said he had only loaned them ?15 million.

Kamoshita said yesterday that the discrepancies were made "by mistake."

"I will look into what happened," he said.

Making a false statement in political funding reports is punishable by up to five years in prison or ?1 million in fines.

Some critics say that politicians underreport or overreport funding to hide expenses they cannot account for, such as funeral offerings for which they cannot get receipts.

Kamoshita denied any ill intent, and Abe and other government officials rallied to his defense.

But they acknowledged they were concerned about the potential fallout.

"If it's a clerical mistake, I don't think this is a case [that requires his resignation]," Abe said.

Kamoshita should correct the mistake and offer a full explanation, he said.

"At this point, we were told it's a clerical mistake," said Matsushige Ono, the deputy Cabinet secretary, but he added: "We have to respond to the people's severe concerns and doubts regarding political funds."

Though not himself tainted by scandal, Abe has a dismal record in naming Cabinet members.

Abe's third agriculture minister in the past four months, Takehiko Endo, resigned on Monday after acknowledging that a farm cooperative he headed had received ?1.15 million in government subsidies by exaggerating weather damage to a 1999 grape harvest.
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