Japan’s finance minister yesterday denied claims he had accepted illegal political donations in yet another potential headache for embattled Prime Minister Taro Aso ahead of this year’s elections.
The Mainichi Daily, citing unnamed sources, reported that Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano had received donations from a commodity futures trading company that were illegally hidden as contributions given by the firm’s individual staff members.
Yosano told reporters: “Formally and practically, there is no problem under the political funds control law.”
“Since the donation was received appropriately, I have no plan to refund it,” said Yosano, who is also fiscal policy minister and financial service agency chief, effectively supervising the nation’s entire financial system.
The Mainichi said that commodity futures trading broker Orient Trading allegedly gave ¥55.3 million (US$580,000) between 1995 and 2005 to Yosano’s fund-raising organization through an illegal scheme.
In 1998 and 1999, Yosano was trade and industry minister and in charge of supervising the nation’s commodity futures trading.
The firm, since renamed H.S. Futures, and its affiliates allegedly ordered 250 employees to send money to Yosano’s fund-raising group, apparently seeking to obscure the source of the money, the Mainichi said.
Japan’s political funding law — designed to root out cozy and corrupt ties between politicians and businessmen — prohibits companies from offering funds to politicians under the name of a third party.
Last month Ichiro Ozawa, the former head of main opposition party the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), resigned after his secretary was arrested over his role in a similar donation scheme.
Aso must call elections by September, but is struggling in the polls, with his public support ratings below 20 percent according to several recent surveys. In the election, which most pundits expect in August or early September, the DPJ hopes to end more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by Aso’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
RSS