Kawai, wife may have paid ¥30 mil in vote buying scandal

A big bow and some apologies and it will be back to normal...

Farcical

His wife has said she "has no recollection of doing anything illegal," according to her lawyer.

Kawai, a House of Representatives member, served as Abe's special adviser for foreign affairs and briefly assumed the post of justice minister after the upper house election.

A male acquaintance of Kawai had also asked local assembly members to gather votes for Anri Kawai upon her husband's request and reported the status to him over Line, according to the sources.

no shame no sence of responsibility no care for the public just gather tax payer money greedy unabashed corruption all with Abe giving the nood.

His wife has said she "has no recollection of doing anything illegal," according to her lawyer.

Typical response from an arrogant politician! The laws dont apply to me, so how could I have done anything illegal!

A big bow and some apologies and it will be back to normal...

Not even close, these two, because of their close ties to Abe, and the HUGE amount of money that the LDP funneled into their campaign, are going down, and they very well may pull Abe down with him.

People within the party are getting fed up with Abe, and he is no longer the "teflon" man at this point,

Japanese police/prosecutors do not screw around when it comes to crap like this story! These two could very well end up in jail because of it as well!

Big chuckle Wasn't he Abe "Honest Abe?" Think "killing Japan Abe" might be more appropriate he has totally lost it. I'd like to think politians strive to make citizens lives happy and comfortable but the LDP seems to strive for the opposite. Can't actually use the words I want to even though they are common.

What gets me is the large amounts of money these politicians have. Perhaps we're paying these miscreants a little too much money. No?

A big bow and some apologies and it will be back to normal...

Unfortunately so.

Corruption, scandal. Its a constant in japanese politics. No big deal in japan.

Lying rats, the both of them. And the arrogance with which she thought she could get out of it. Luckily they’re both completely ruined, their sham of a marriage will likely fall out too. Good riddance

This is news because they got caught. In Japan, corruption and bullying is just part of daily life, much like eating and sleeping, The others just haven’t been caught.

@speed - What gets me is the large amounts of money these politicians have. Perhaps we're paying these miscreants a little too much money. No?

Look at the sizes of brown envelopes in stationery shops in Japan - their official salary and what they actually take in whilst in office are quite different!

Here's the thing. I thought stuff like this, in varying degrees, was more or less commonplace in Japanese politics. Was it just too blatant this time? Or did someone not provide a "donation" to the right person at the right time?

That is about a year's salary for a seasoned politician in Japan. They probably did not mind spending that much money if it guarantees that he would stay in office or in power for many more years.

CrickyToday  07:26 am JST

I'd like to think politians strive to make citizens lives happy and comfortable but the LDP seems to strive for the opposite.

The LDP does make great efforts on behalf of the select individuals they need to win elections for them. They've worked out that they don't actually need to be universally popular or enact policies that actually benefit most people to get re-elected, so they don't bother with stuff like that.

known for having had close ties with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

I believe he had close ties until he was busted for a crime Abe found 'irresponsible' and laughed.

They paid 100 people ¥300,000 each to influence other people to vote for Anri. It would've been more prudent had they paid these people AFTER she won the election. Quietly. Under the table. Over time. Rather than so obviously.

Also, does Katsuyuki get the retirement pension of a justice minister even though he was a justice minister for ONE month? The news always casts him as 'former Justice Minister' and not as 'a Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives in the Diet' which is what he IS, not was.

I talked last week with a local who genuinely couldn’t see a problem here.

”If people voted as they promised, and they got paid promptly and in full, what is there to complain about?”

Hard to argue with such a refreshingly straightforward attitude to corruption....

His wife has said she "has no recollection of doing anything illegal,"

A slight difference to the "I was drunk and dont remember" routine

His wife has said she "has no recollection of doing anything illegal,"

Maybe she was half cut for several months.

How about gunning for the rest of the LDP crooks? Let's have a REAL investigation!

Let me make a wild guess, our Dear Leader knew nothing about this. He should fire this couple for keeping him in the dark.

talaraedokkoToday  08:20 pm JST

Let me make a wild guess, our Dear Leader knew nothing about this. He should fire this couple for keeping him in the dark.

The people who bear ultimate responsibility for these corruption scandals never seem to know anything about them, no matter how important the people involved are or how big the bribes. Amazing, isn't it.

@Yubaru

What politicians in recent history have done gaol time for bribery?

Examples?