Doctored paper scandal spells more trouble for rattled Abe

Acronyism scandal is damaging the credibility of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet members. The Japanese finance ministry has admitted that its documents related to the sale of a plot of stateowned land in Osaka prefecture to private school operator Moritomo Gakuen, which the ministry’s officials called a “special deal” in the original files, were altered. The edited parts include the names of several politicians and Abe’s wife Akie Abe who had visited Moritomo Gakuen several times.

The doctored documents, which were submitted to the country’s parliament, have raised Japanese opposition parties’ suspicion that Abe or his wife or some government officials had helped Moritomo Gakuen acquire the heavily discounted plot of land.

The revelation of falsified documents is more damaging to the Abe administration than the deal itself which, along with other scandals, caused the public support for Abe to plummet last summer.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso has blamed a small circle of bureaucrats in his ministry for extensively changing the documents. But opposition parties and many ordinary people are demanding that the Abe Cabinet resign owning responsibility for the scandal.

Abe said at a budget committee meeting in the lower house of parliament on Feb 17 last year that if he or his wife was involved in the deal, he would resign both as the prime minister and a lawmaker.

Abe and Aso are yet to clear their names. According to an opinion poll conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun on March 9-11, about 80 percent of the respondents termed the government’s handling of the issue as inappropriate.

If any administration official is arrested on charges of fabrication, it would deal a heavier blow to Abe’s Cabinet.