The resignation of economy minister Akira Amari, one of the closest political allies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, does not answer all the questions raised by the allegations that he and his secretaries received millions of yen from a construction firm in Chiba Prefecture seeking his office's intervention to settle a dispute with a government-funded housing corporation. Amari still owes the public, which is weary of the repeated money scandals involving key members of the Abe administration, a convincing account of his and his aides' acts.
Amari quit Thursday after acknowledging in a news conference that he had received a total of ¥1 million from the construction company on two occasions in 2013 and 2014 — one time at his ministerial office — and that one of his secretaries separately received ¥5 million from the firm, ¥3 million of which the aide used "privately." The veteran lawmaker denied he acted illegally in receiving the money — which he did not appear to remember just a week ago when the scandal broke in a weekly magazine report — saying he instructed his aides to adequately process the money as political donations.
Amari said he was resigning to take responsibility as the supervisor of his aides, who were also found to have been wined and dined by the construction firm, and to fulfill his duty as a Cabinet minister to prevent the scandal from disrupting Diet deliberations. Abe is reported to have been reluctant to ax Amari and told the Diet the previous day that he would like the minister to stay in his job — even as Amari was scheduled to speak to the media to give his account Thursday.