Suga s press official quits over communications ministry scandal
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga s press official resigned Monday, a week after drawing fire for being treated to a lavish dinner while at the communications ministry by a broadcasting firm that employs the premier s eldest son.
Makiko Yamada. (Kyodo)
Cabinet Public Relations Secretary Makiko Yamada was hospitalized Sunday afternoon due to ill health requiring about two weeks of treatment and reported later that day she can no longer fulfill her duties, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference.
Her abrupt departure is yet another blow to Suga, who has been struggling with falling public support after a series of scandals involving government officials and criticism over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s leadership is being tested after senior bureaucrats from the Ministry of Communications were found to have been treated to a series of lavish meals with executives of satellite broadcasting company Tohokushinsha – which employs Suga’s eldest son, Seigo.
At least 11 senior ministry officials in Suga’s inner circle have been accused of potentially violating the National Public Service Ethics Law, which prohibits receiving favors from stakeholders. An internal investigation revealed that between July 2016 and December 2020, 11 executives from the ministry wined and dined 39 times with Tohokoshinsha executives, who paid up to $700 per head for meals of Wagyu beef and seafood.
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Senior Commentator
Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has apologized for his son’s role in a growing scandal that is threatening to engulf his administration. The comments came during Monday’s Diet session, after an in-house probe at the communications ministry named several officials and a current Cabinet spokesperson.
The ministry announced that 11 officials had violated its ethics code when they accepted dinners from the prime minister’s eldest son, Suga Seigo. Suga works for Tohoku Shinsha Film Corporation, a video production company whose satellite broadcasting arm would benefit from good relations with the ministry. The scandal was first reported on by weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun in February.
Suga denies ethics scandal pushed him to skip news conference Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. If you re not sure how to activate it, please refer to this site: https://www.enable-javascript.com/
KYODO Feb 26, 2021
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga denied Friday that an ethics scandal involving a senior press official had anything to do with his decision not to hold a news conference that day when announcing the partial lifting of the coronavirus emergency.
Cabinet Public Relations Secretary Makiko Yamada, who moderates Suga’s news conferences, came under fire after she was found to have been treated to a luxurious dinner in 2019 by the now-prime minister’s eldest son.