Japan’s Economy Minister Akira Amari has said he is resigning amid corruption allegations.<\/p>\n
Mr Amari unexpectedly made the announcement at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But he again denied personally receiving bribes from a construction company, as had been alleged by a Japanese magazine.<\/p>\n
The development will be seen as a significant blow for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.<\/p>\n
Mr Amari, who has been minister of state for economic and fiscal policy since late 2012, has been widely described as one of Mr Abe’s most trusted members of parliament.<\/p>\n
As Japan’s lead negotiator for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Mr Amari was expected to travel to New Zealand next week to sign the agreement.<\/p>\n
He was also regarded as the architect of Abenomics – Mr Abe’s plan to pull the world’s third largest economy out of deflation.<\/p>\n
“This is possibly the biggest scandal the Abe administration has faced,” said the BBC’s Mariko Oi.<\/p>\n
“His resignation will probably raise even more questions over Mr Abe’s economic policies – or Abenomics,” our correspondent added.<\/p>\n
“It may also raise further opposition within Japan to the TPP.”<\/p>\n
Mr Amari will be replaced by Nobuteru Ishihara, formerly the country’s environment minister.<\/p>\n
‘I’m no exception’<\/strong><\/p>\n A local magazine had reported last week that Mr Amari and his aides were given money and gifts worth some 12m yen ($101,000; \u00a370,500) by a construction company in return for some favours linked to land ownership.<\/p>\n Mr Amari said he did receive money which he wanted declared as a political donation, however, he said some of it was mishandled by his staff.<\/p>\n Japan’s economy, which has been struggling with deflation for nearly two decades,avoided a technical recession in the three months to September last year.<\/p>\n “Japan is finally emerging from deflation,” Mr Amari told the press conference, as reported by Reuters.<\/p>\n “We need to pass legislation through parliament for steps to beat deflation and create a strong economy as soon as possible.<\/p>\n “Anything that hampers this must be eliminated, and I’m no exception,” Reuters reported him as saying.<\/p>\n “I, therefore, would like to resign as minister to take responsibility [for what my aide has done],” he said, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n Mr Amari is the fourth member of Mr Abe’s cabinet to resign amid allegations of bribery, among other issues.<\/p>\n Mr Abe has apologised for the latest resignation. Japan’s Economy Minister Akira Amari has said he is resigning amid corruption allegations. Mr Amari unexpectedly made the announcement at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. But he again denied personally receiving bribes from a construction company, as had been alleged by a Japanese magazine. The development will be seen as a significant blow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nBy: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"