Editorial: PM Abe needs to come clean over sakura party scandal

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe testified at a House of Councillors plenary session on Nov. 20 over a controversial cherry blossom-viewing party the premier hosts every spring. Attention was focused on his explanation of how the function, which critics accuse the prime minister and other ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) legislators of exploiting for their personal gain, is organized.

There are two key questions. Firstly, why have the number of attendees and the cost of organizing the event increased year-by-year? Abe explained to the session that, "The event was organized in accordance with long-standing customary practices, but the criteria for selecting guests was obscure, and the number of attendees snowballed as a result."

Although the number of participants and the cost have swelled since Abe returned to power in late 2012, he attributed the increase to customary practices and vague criteria, and failed to provide a convincing explanation.

The government has disclosed that of some 15,000 attendees in this year's sakura party, about 1,000 were recommended by the prime minister, roughly 1,000 others were suggested by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and other high-ranking officials of the prime minister's office and approximately 6,000 more were nominated by those linked to the LDP.

The way the party is organized has deviated from the function's original purpose of inviting those who made major achievements and contributions in various fields. The event deserves criticism for being abused by LDP politicians to entertain their supporters. A quota for guests was given to LDP legislators who sought re-election in the July 2019 upper house race. The function was effectively used for their election campaigns.

In particular, the number of guests recommended by Prime Minister Abe's personal office is extraordinarily high. These include those suggested by his wife Akie. The prime minister admitted in the Nov. 20 session that he was involved in the selection of guests at the cherry blossom-viewing party, saying, "I occasionally expressed my opinions on who should be recommended to attend when my personal office consulted with me."

He thus corrected his earlier explanation that he was never involved in the guest selection process. His remarks suggest that it is only natural for him to give preferential treatment to supporters in his home constituency. The prime minister should take it seriously as someone in power that his actions have given rise to suspicions that he mixed his public and private affairs.

The other question is how the dinner party, which was held at a luxurious hotel in Tokyo for Abe supporters on the eve of the sakura party, was managed. While admitting that the pre-party event was organized by his supporters' association, he denied that the group collected or paid any money for the function. The prime minister should provide a more detailed explanation if he meant that the organizer and those responsible for its accounting were separate.

Some 850 people paid 5,000 yen each as a participation fee for the pre-party this year, totaling over 4 million yen. The actual sum should be clarified.

The refusal of Abe's office to show bills it had received from the hotel that hosted the pre-party event has aroused suspicions that the accounting was managed in an inappropriate manner.

The ruling camp has refused to open intensive deliberations on the matter at budget committees at both chambers of the Diet while the prime minister has stated that he will fulfill his accountability if demanded by the legislature.

Since Abe is behind all these suspicions about the sakura party and the hotel gathering, the matter cannot be settled unless the prime minister provides an explanation to the budget panels.