Three Japanese ministers submitted their resignations on Thursday, according to local media, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the day before that he wanted to face a vast financial fraud scandal within his party.
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Internal Affairs Junji Suzuki and Minister of Agriculture Ichiro Miyashita all resigned Thursday morning (local time), according to several Japanese press outlets.
“Public distrust is directed towards me regarding political funds, which leads to distrust of the government. As an investigation is underway, I thought I should set the record straight,” Nishimura told reporters.
According to the press, Japanese prosecutors are investigating suspected fraud targeting dozens of members of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, conservative right) led by Mr. Kishida, a political group which has governed the country almost without interruption since 1955.
They are suspected, according to several media, of having failed to declare the equivalent of several million Canadian dollars raised through the sale of tickets for fundraising evenings, and which the PLD would then have paid to them.
Investigators are said to be particularly interested in members of the largest internal faction of the party led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last year. Its members reportedly received some 500 million yen ($4.7 million) over a five-year period until 2022.
” Fireball “
Judging it “extremely regrettable that the situation has aroused distrust among the population”, Mr. Kishida promised on Thursday to “turn into a ball of fire to restore confidence in the government”, announcing that he wanted to “proceed quickly with the appointments” on Thursday.
According to Japanese media, Mr. Kishida is preparing to replace, in addition to the three resigning ministers, the general secretary and government spokesperson, Hirokazu Matsuno. In total, nine ministers and vice-ministers would be affected by the reshuffle.
All the ministers who are to be replaced belong to the “Abe faction”, although the scandal would also affect members of Mr. Kishida’s faction, according to local media.
Even before this scandal, the popularity rating of Mr. Kishida, 66, was already weighed down by other areas of discontent among the Japanese, including persistent inflation and the fall in the yen which are weakening the purchasing power of households, despite its announcement last month of a massive new fiscal stimulus plan.
The prime minister can theoretically stay in power until 2025, but some analysts speculate on the possible calling of early elections before an internal vote in the PLD next year which could prove very difficult.