TOKYO: In a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s newly appointed trade and industry minister plans to resign following reports that some of her support groups misused political funds, Japanese media said on Saturday.
Yuko Obuchi, the 40-year-old daughter of a former premier, has told people close to Abe that she plans to resign and take responsibility for a furore she caused, the Nikkei newspaper said, without citing any sources.
‘What I have to do right now is to conduct a thorough investigation into the political funding issue,’ Obuchi told reporters on Saturday, when asked whether she intended to quit.
Obuchi also said she did not plan to meet the prime minister on Saturday, when he was due to return from an Asia-Europe summit in Italy.
Abe tapped Obuchi, a telegenic mother of two young children, less than two months ago to head the powerful METI. She was one of five women Abe chose in a cabinet reshuffle in an effort to bolster his popularity by showing his commitment to promoting women.
Regarded as a possible future contender to become Japan’s first woman prime minister, Obuchi apologised at a parliamentary panel on Thursday in the wake of the reports of the misuse of funds, which could violate electoral and political funding laws.
‘I feel that ignorance is no excuse,’ Obuchi said on Friday in response to repeated questions at a parliamentary panel.
A Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) spokesman said he was unaware of any plans by Obuchi to quit. The ministry said later that her visit to central Japan today was cancelled to avoid expected ‘disorder’. No one answered the phone at her political office.
The weekly magazine Shukan Shincho reported that two political support groups in Obuchi’s constituency had spent some 26 million yen (245,600 dollar) on theatre tickets for her backers in 2010 and 2011. Major newspapers also followed up on the allegations made by the magazine. (PTI)
