Original title: "Sakura Viewing" scandal fermented Abe is willing to explain to Congress
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on the 18th that after the prosecutor concluded his investigation on the cost of the banquet on the night before the "cherry blossom viewing party," he was willing to go to the Diet to explain the situation and answer questions honestly.
Kyodo News reported that the Liberal Democratic Party began to coordinate Abe to the parliament to explain the situation on the 17th.
The Liberal Democratic Party believes that if it does not show a gesture of efforts to explain doubts, it will lose public support, which will further affect the governance of Abe's successor Yoshihide Suga.
At about 5 pm on August 28, local time, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation as Prime Minister at a press conference.
The picture shows the scene of the press conference.
After Abe resigned as prime minister, he remained a member of the House of Representatives.
The results of a public opinion survey released by the Japan Broadcasting Association on the 14th showed that the approval rate of Yoshihide Suga's cabinet dropped 14 percentage points from the previous month to 42%; the disapproval rate was 36%, an increase of 17 percentage points from the previous month.
The response to the new crown epidemic and the Abe cherry blossom viewing scandal were the two major reasons for losing points.
TV Asahi reported on the 18th with a number of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers as a source that Abe has accepted the prosecution’s questioning on or before the 17th.
Japanese media previously reported that the prosecutor hoped that Abe would be questioned voluntarily.
The Japanese media reported in November last year that Abe was suspected of inviting a large number of "affiliated households" every year to participate in the annual "cherry blossom viewing party" organized by the government, including more than 800 members of the Abe Support Association in his hometown of Yamaguchi.
On the eve of the "cherry blossom viewing", the support club also held a dinner in a high-end hotel in the capital Tokyo. The income from the "ticket" was lower than the cost of the banquet, and the difference was filled by the political fund management group under Abe's name. The total amount of filling exceeded 9 million from 2015 to 2019 Japanese yen (about 87,000 US dollars).
However, the relevant financial reports did not record these expenditures, and the receipts were suspected of being destroyed.
If the above situation is true, Abe is suspected of violating Japan's "Public Election Law" and "Political Funds Regulation Law."
Abe repeatedly claimed in Congress that he did not cover the cost of the support party dinner.
In November this year, the Special Search Department of the Tokyo District Attorney's Office collected evidence from Abe's Congress Secretary and members of the Support Association.
The source said that Secretary Abe voluntarily admitted when he voluntarily accepted the questioning that due to negligence, he did not record the report of political funds income and expenditure.
(Chen Lixi) (Xinhua News Agency Special Feature)