Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga faces a widening scandal over revelations that his eldest son — Seigo, an executive at a company involved in satellite broadcasting — had wined and dined bureaucrats at the communications ministry. So far, the ministry has discovered that 13 officials were wined and dined 39 times by representatives of the broadcasting company, including 21 times when Seigo Suga was present.
On Monday, a ministry investigation revealed that in addition to four previously named senior bureaucrats, another eight — including the Cabinet’s current public relations secretary — accepted hospitality from Seigo Suga. These revelations have again raised questions about influence peddling at the highest levels of government and are becoming a major political problem for the prime minister, even though he insists he had no knowledge of his son’s activities.
How did the scandal break?