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    Kishida replaces four ministers over kickbacks scandal

    TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida replaced four ministers yesterday as the unpopular leader reels from a major corruption scandal in the ruling party.

    The furore centres on alleged kickbacks of JPY500 million (USD3.4 million) in the faction-riven Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which governed the world’s third-largest economy almost uninterrupted for decades.

    Media reports suggested that prosecutors would begin raiding offices and interviewing dozens of lawmakers later this week.

    Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno was replaced by former foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, a high-ranking member of Kishida’s LDP faction.

    Ken Saito replaced Yasutoshi Nishimura as Economy and Industry Minister while Takeaki Matsumoto returned to his old post as internal affairs minister, replacing Junji Suzuki.

    Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a news conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, Japan. PHOTO: AFP

    New Agriculture Minister Tetsushi Sakamoto took over after Ichiro Miyashita also tendered his resignation.

    Michiko Ueno, a special adviser to the prime minister, also left office along with five deputy ministers.

    “The public’s doubts are around me over political funds, which is leading to distrust in the government. As an investigation is going on, I thought I wanted to set things right,” Nishimura told reporters.

    Kishida said on Wednesday he would deal with the allegations “head-on”.

    “I will make efforts like a ball of fire and lead the LDP to restore the public’s trust,” he told reporters.

    Kishida’s poll ratings are the worst for any premier since the LDP returned to power in 2012 because of voter anger about inflation, as well as his handling of a string of earlier scandals.

    A new poll published by Jiji Press yesterday showed public support for Kishida’s cabinet at just 17.1 per cent, down 4.2 percentage points.

    The kickbacks at the centre of the latest scandal allegedly went to party members who exceeded their ticket sales quotas for party fundraising events.

    “If you are confident of selling (tickets), if you sell more than you are obliged to sell, that will all become your income, so that’s easy and great,” a senior official who worked in the office of an LDP lawmaker told broadcaster ANN, his face concealed and voice disguised.

    The kickbacks scandal implicates the largest faction within the LDP, which was headed by ex-premier Shinzo Abe before his assassination last year.

    The grouping headed until recently by Kishida himself was also suspected of failing to declare over JPY20 million in the three years to 2020, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported.

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