The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODOTop gov't spokesman allegedly received ¥10 mil in kickbacks: source
TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODO
33 Comments
Login to comment
Tim Sullivan
That's not a bad bonus and it's tax free! Wonder what he spent it on?
factchecker
Business as usual. He must have annoyed someone to have it leaked to the media though.
Speed
Anybody related to Abe in any way is corrupt. Look at how many times that guy's name pops up in the news even to this day. Never for anything positive.
I've always thought Matsuno was a weasly looking dude. Guess he actually is when it comes to our money.
10 million undeclared. That's a lot. I just wish I made that much a year.
kurisupisu
So, when was the last time a prison sentence was handed out for this transgression?
Stealing an onigiri from a convenience store is more likely to culminate in a gaol sentence and fine!
Tim Sullivan
If the tax office ever tries to nab you for undeclared income, just tell them you won't comment on an individual situation, but you will take the issue seriously. I don't think that would work, somehow.
Legrande
As others have noted, even though this whole affair is absolutely dripping with a foul odor, the political game in this LDP 'democracy' is so rigged and supported by a powerful foreign entity that Matsuno can confidently declare that he will continue working in order to diligently 'fulfill his duties.'
Redemption
Nice. Wish I was a politician.
Gobshite
What a shocker.... said no one ever
TrevorPeace
If there's one thing I've noticed about Japan since my first extended stay in 2011, it's political graft. And it's truly pitiful that it's accepted by the public. But, that's tradition for you, and if nothing else, Japan is traditional.
dagon
Hirokazu Matsuno later that night with the boys in Ginza: And my duty is I am responsible for stacking that yen!!
shogun36
So, you're gonna accept more kickbacks and undeclared income?
Sounds about right.
I mean what member of Kishida's cabinet, ISN'T getting under the table payments for just being slime?
Simon Foston
LegrandeToday 05:33 pm JST
I wonder. I think the Tokyo prosecutors will have to throw the book at someone in order not to look like total incompetents, and the higher the profile of the person in question the better.
Bad Haircut
Wigs?
Nibek32
Pretty much every Japanese politician is corrupt. Being a politician in Japan attracts a certain type.
Bob Fosse
"I will continue to fulfill my duties with a sense of responsibility,"
I think he meant to say ‘start’ not ‘continue.
If I didn’t declare ¥10 million I’d be locked up and deported. Give him prison time.
Yubaru
If you think for a second people dont think it's wrong, you dont know much about politics here.
People will overlook crap like this, until it's public knowledge, THEN problems start. If no one knew about it openly, no one would say anything.
Andy
Just when you thought Abe was Japan's most corrupt politician, then this guy Matsuno comes along.
Brian Wheway
Does this suprise anyone?
quercetum
You need life impriosnment for accepting bribes and trying to hack the system.
There is this CPC member named Sun Zhengcai who thought he was deep enough within the CPC to get away with a 170 Million RMB Bribe ($28.25 Million).
He resorted to some bogus accounting and did some wok cooking with the books. Previuosly CPC officials needed to submit their Asset and Liabilities every three years and so it was relatively easy to cook and conceal.
Xi Jinping, however has since then declared that every CPC officials of a certain rank had to disclose their Assets and Liabilities every 12 months rather then every 36 months.
He appointed a commission, 192 dedicated people aimed to catch the corrupt, and they went after and questioned anyone who showed more than 15% increase in assets over a year or 100% across 5 years.
The many who were questioned proved that their increase in wealth stemmed from property investments and investments in shares. They provided the source, and this was a non issue with Xi, all except for Sun.
Sun Zhengcai claimed he invested his money in a Spanish firm. It only took a few days to establish that this was false because CPC members have to declare every outward transaction out of China, capped at a maximum of $100,000 a year, and that too could only be for education or healthcare.
Caught red handed, Sun tried to use his party connections to Jiang Zemin to extricate himself. A total of 76 officials were caught. Xi and the Party offered them a choice -
4/5 of the Assets paid back to the Party plus permanent resignation from all Chinese politics and mandatory exile to the Outer Provinces with permission needed to return even for a 7 day visit to Beijing or Trial & if guilty, life imprisonment.
The 75 gratefully paid their dues to the Party and China and went into exile. Sun boldly said he would face trial. At the trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to life. Under Chinese law his daughter was recalled from Stanford University and forced to establish her innocence.
You need some teeth to combat corruption.
Mark
YUP, now why am I not surprised at all, time to DRAIN THE (SWAMPS)
Simon Foston
AndyToday 07:33 pm JST
He'd need to be at least as much of a sleazebag as the boss to get ahead in a crowd like that. It would involve turning a blind eye to or getting in on a lot of very dodgy stuff I suspect.
geronimo2006
Mark
When you are the one making and approving the laws "Anything Could Become LEGAL".
William77
Again? Is there an end to the LDP corruption?
Roger Gusain
Not a good look when pensioners are practically starving in this country.
rainman1
For a whole 10 mill? If you’re going to ruin your name and career, then at least do it for a proper chunk of change. Idiot.
didou
Matsuno days are counted.
Discussions are already on to replace him, then the others who got kickbacks
SaikoPhysco
This is such a joke and it is being played on us. Why, because no where in the article does it mention that Japan's Zeimusho / IRS is investigating this guy. All it says are that there are "allegations". This guy is some sort of a political press sacrifice or target of another party. Always remember people, when someone goes down for something, and that person is a Politician, it mainly means he or she pissed someone off and is being sacrificed as media fodder. Also... when is the last time real investigative reporters found something and went after someone... it is rare. Most of the crap we read is the machinations of the various parties playing chess with each move released to the media as "allegations" for us idiots to read and think that the govt. is actually properly policing itself. Yeah... I'm a cynic.
Simon Foston
rainman1Dec. 8 11:53 pm JST
I suspect most of the donors are owners of small and medium sized businesses in rural areas who aren't making a whole lot of money. They probably can't afford really big bribes, which is down to decades of LDP mismanagement.
Pacificpilot
Greed conquers all. Why are old Japanese male politicians synonymous with corruption?
opheliajadefeldt
Wow!!.......yet another corrupt politician, I am astounded........hold on, the shock is too much, I will have to lay down.
masterblaster
The last line of the article is hilarious.
None of these guys are going to jail.