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Prosecutors search the office of former agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa in Sapporo on Dec. 25. (Kengo Hiyoshi)
Tokyo prosecutors will soon indict a former agriculture minister on a bribery charge over 5 million yen ($48,000) he received from a major egg producing company, sources said.
Takamori Yoshikawa, 70, will be indicted without arrest or being taken into custody because he underwent a heart operation at the end of 2020 and has since been in a hospital, the sources said.
Prosecutors suspect Yoshikawa received a total 18 million yen over the past six years from a former top executive of Akita Foods Co., a Hiroshima Prefecture-based egg producer.
Abe apologizes at the Diet for false statements on dinner party funding tribuneledgernews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneledgernews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe responds to a question from an opposition party lawmaker during a Lower House Budget Committee session in February. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Shinzo Abe, who was prime minister until three months ago, has been questioned by prosecutors in connection with a political fund scandal while he was in office.
Given the gravity of the latest development, what should Abe do to fulfill his political responsibility?
First and foremost, it is imperative that he appear before an open session in the Diet and thoroughly explain himself.
Abe has voluntarily submitted to questioning by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigation squad over payments to cover the costs of banquets held on the eve of annual cherry blossom viewing parties during his years in office.