Former Japan's Minister of Justice, Katsuyuki Kawai, resigned from his office after an election scandal involving his wife. (Image via The Straits Times)

Japan's justice minister walks out due to fraud allegation by… his wife?

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
News Flash Japan
Oct 31, 2019
1879
More Japanese ministers are signing out of their position. On Thursday morning, Japan’s Minister of Justice, Katsuyuki Kawai, submitted his resignation letter to the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. Abe appointed Kawai as the Justice Minister in September.

Masako Mori, the former Minister of State for Gender Equality and also Minister of State for Measures for Declining Birthrate, is appointed to replace Katsuyuki.

Kawai, a parliament member from Hiroshima, decided to quit his post as Justice Minister due to the allegation that his wife, Anri Kawai, breached election law. Once more, the weekly magazine, Shukan Bunshun, exposed the scandal that Anri Kawai gave her staff daily allowance which exceeded from the amount regulated by the law.

Katsuyuki Kawai refused that he was also involved in the wrongdoing. The former Justice Minister admitted that due to the incident, the public might lose its trust toward justice administration.

Notwithstanding the incident, the former Justice Minister said that he had executed the political agenda in line with the Japanese law. In the meantime, Katsuyuki Kawai promised that he would investigate the issue and correlate his findings as fast as he could.

However, for him, the best option was to step down to assure the smooth flow of the Japanese government.

Katsuyuki Kawai became the second minister to quit within a week, following the former Minister of Trade, Isshu Sugawara.

A week ago, Shukan Bunshun also exposed the incident where Isshu Sugawara ordered his secretary to give incense money and luxurious gifts to his supporters in Tokyo.

Abe had to apologize again due to his mistake in appointing Kawai as the ministers in his cabinet, adding that he will try his best to regain public trust. Recently, he also offered an apology to the reporters for appointing Sugawara.

The Japanese PM is trying his best to maintain public approval rating around 40 – 50% despite the political scandals befalling his appointed ministers after the reshuffle.

Source: https://bit.ly/2JDxcel