The Cabinet was shaken Monday by two fresh accounting scandals, following the resignation of two ministers last week over earlier funds scandals.
Industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa admitted that a Liberal Democratic Party chapter he heads had received an illegal donation from a foreign-owned firm, and an expenses declaration by the office of Haruko Arimura, minister in charge of women's empowerment, showed that her team had received donations from a Kagoshima company that was once fined for tax evasion.
Miyazawa said the LDP's chapter in Hiroshima Prefecture received a total of ¥400,000 in donations in 2007 and 2008 from a local company that is more than 50 percent foreign-owned.