Japan minister returns salary over scandal

TOKYO: Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Monday he was returning a year’s salary after his ministry scrubbed public documents related to a cronyism scandal that has dogged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

But he ruled out resigning after it emerged ministry oficials had removed hundreds of references to Abe, his wife, and Aso from documents related to the sale of state land at below-market prices.

“I am voluntarily returning 12 months of my salary as a cabinet minister, as this problem has hurt public confidence in the inance ministry and the administration as a whole,” Taro Aso told reporters.

But he added, “I am not thinking about stepping down”, as he announced the indings of the ministry’s in-house probe.

Aso is the richest minister in Abe’s cabinet because of his family’s massive fortune made in the mining business. He also earns some 30 million yen ($274,000) a year as a cabinet minister.

Aso said the ministry had penalised around 20 oficials, imposing pay cuts in some cases and issuing verbal reprimands to others.

“Oficially approved administrative documents should never have been altered and submitted to parliament. I ind this extremely regrettable,” he said.

Abe told reporters he wanted Aso to stay on to ensure lessons were learned from the scandal.

“We should conduct a through review of how to keep public documents and take measures to prevent a recurrence,” he said, adding that he wanted Aso “to take leadership in this and fulfil his responsibility.”

The scandal revolves around the 2016 cut-price sale of state-owned land to a nationalist school operator who claims ties to Abe and his wife Akie.