Thursday, December 28, 2006
Abe Govt Taking Beating From Scandals, Resignations
TOKYO (Nikkei)–Administrative Reform Minister Genichiro Sata’s resignation, announced Wednesday, will deal yet another blow to the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which has been mired in controversy of late.
The Abe cabinet has seen its approval rating nose-dive, in part because of the resignation of the government’s tax panel chief and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s decision to readmit legislators who had bolted the LDP over postal reform.
Although Abe aims to move forward by making progress in such policy areas as education reform, he has yet to craft clear strategies to regain lost ground and prevent a recurrence of recent events.
Observers argue that Abe’s decisions to reward those close to him with prized appointments has hurt his credibility. Sata announced that he would resign over inappropriate accounting by a political support group he oversaw. When Abe was acting party secretary-general, Sata worked alongside him as a deputy secretary-general. Sata also led a group of legislators who supported Abe during the LDP campaign.
And with Abe government’s launch, Sata was appointed to his first cabinet position, as head of administrative reform.
Political appointments are indeed a means of wielding power. But a poor decision can end up hurting the leader making the appointments.
A senior LDP official says the resignations of Sata and Masaaki Homma, who resigned as chairman of the Tax Commission last week in light of revelations that he allegedly lived in an apartment for civil servants with a woman other than his wife, highlights the Abe government’s lax screening of candidates for top jobs.
“The Abe government is not strict about looking into whether a candidate may be involved in improprieties,” this LDP official warns.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki stressed that the government did everything it could have done. But Abe told reporters that he would take appropriate steps to prevent a recurrence of the recent resignations, indicating that a thorough screening process would be applied to future appointees.
Because Sata’s resignation involves alleged submission of false fund reports by his now-defunct political support group. Because this involves money and affects a cabinet member, “this will be the most damaging,” an Abe aide sighs.
Although Abe is expected to push education reform and other attention-grabbing measures to try to win back the public’s trust, it may not be that simple. For one thing, Abe tapped allies for such key posts as chief cabinet secretary and special adviser positions. But these individuals do not necessarily have ties to one another. In fact, one of Abe’s advisers argued that Sata’s actions did not violate a political finance regulation, sending the wrong message.
So even if Abe seeks changes in a bid for improvement, he may run into structural impediments that he himself put in place.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Thursday morning edition)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Sata Decides To Resign Over Fund Report Scandal
TOKYO (Kyodo)–Administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata said Wednesday he has decided to quit his post to take the blame for ”inappropriate accounting” in political fund reports submitted to the government.
Sata, facing allegations that his defunct political support group submitted false fund reports, said that the decision was made out of consideration of the need to pass several important bills and the state budget for fiscal 2007 through the ordinary Diet session to start next year.
”As a lawmaker, I cannot allow the affairs of state to fall behind,” the 54-year-old House of Representatives member from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party told a hastily called press conference
The move is expected to deal another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as it comes on the heels of the resignation of government tax panel chief Masaaki Homma over improper use of a government-subsidized apartment.
Abe told reporters he ”feels responsibility to the public for appointing” Sata as the state minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reforms, on which Abe has placed priority, and that he will pick up Sata’s successor possibly by the end of this year.
The fund reports in question showed that Sata’s political group based in Tokyo claimed some 78 million yen in office maintenance expenses from 1990 to 2000 for a fictitious office.
Sata said he has confirmed that his group was ”actually engaging in political activities” and that the office expenses declared in the fund reports were those ”actually spent.”
But he also admitted that some of the expenses by his other support groups, which are based in his constituency Gunma Prefecture, were recorded as the Tokyo-based body’s expenses to cover the financially troubled groups. The Tokyo-based political group was disbanded in November.
”I must admit there were inappropriate accounting procedures,” Sata said, adding that such accounting might even be illegal.
Sata also said he is not thinking of giving up his parliamentary seat.
He said inappropriate accounting procedures may have occurred because the accounting officer at his office at that time was ”inexperienced.”
As reporters sought further explanations, Sata broke off the meeting after about 10 minutes and left the conference room.
Sata is currently serving his sixth term in the lower house and was once the LDP’s chief deputy secretary-general.
LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa said in a statement that Sata’s decision ”showed his sense of responsibility” and that the party is ”resolved to unite, support the Abe Cabinet and promote his reform policy.”
Meanwhile, Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, criticized the move, saying Sata has yet to be held fully accountable. ”I must say that he is trying to cover up what happened by his resignation,” Hatoyama said.
The DPJ decided Wednesday to seek Sata’s resignation from his parliamentary seat.