Akira Amari, Japan’s economy minister, was regarded as a close ally of PM Shinzo Abe and, obviously, deeply involved in Mr Abe’s 3-arrows programme which is designed to get the Japanese economy back on its feet. He had been in post since 2012 when Abe won his renewed mandate and his resignation will be seen as a blow to the PM.
Mr Amari decided to resign in the teeth of a storm alleging that he was implicated in bribery scandal involving a construction company. He stressed that his hands were clean (of course; he’s a politician and they are all above any reproach), but the affair involved some 12 million Yen in cash and gifts in return for favourable consideration of land ownership. Not quite a mea culpa, the minister admitted receiving some cash, but insisted it was his intention to declare it as a political donation and was “mishandled” by his staff - an unusual explanation on the face of it as one would imagine that policy for donations to party funds was well established (“sorry boss, we thought we should put it with the rest of the bribes…” No, surely not!). In any event, Mr Amari decided it was a resigning matter.
Commenting on his decision, Mr Amari noted: "Japan is finally emerging from deflation. We need to pass legislation through parliament for steps to beat deflation and create a strong economy as soon as possible. Anything that hampers this must be eliminated, and I'm no exception. I, therefore, would like to resign as minister to take responsibility ."
Mr Amari has been deeply involved in the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, an important regional trade deal which is due to be signed shortly. He is the fourth of Mr Abe’s ministers to resign under a cloud, indeed, Mr Abe himself apologised for the fact of his economic minister’s resignation.