TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors are seeking to question former prime minister Shinzo Abe over a scandal involving the cost of events held for his supporters, local media said Thursday.
Under Japanese law, spending on political events must be reported, but prosecutors allege that Abe’s office failed to do so for dinners his political group organized on the eve of government-sponsored cherry blossom viewing parties.
Public broadcaster NHK said the group paid more than $76,000 for the events over five years until 2019.
The Tokyo Prosecutors Office, which declined to comment on the story, has already questioned Abe’s secretaries for allegedly failing to properly report the cost of the dinners.
NHK and Jiji Press agency said prosecutors wanted to question Abe about his knowledge of the payments.
Abe, who has not yet responded to the prosecutors’ request, has already denied any wrongdoing, saying guests, including voters in his constituency, attended at their own expense.
Abe resigned in September over health issues after becoming the country’s longest-serving premier.
He weathered several scandals while in office, including over the cherry blossom parties, a decades-old tradition intended to honor the great and good for their achievements.
Abe’s government was accused of stacking the event with supporters, and even inviting a member of Japan’s infamous Yakuza mafia.
When the opposition demanded a guest list be produced, it emerged the list had been shredded.
While the government denied wrongdoing, Abe’s successor Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said he will not hold the event next year.
Japan prosecutors seek to question ex-PM Shinzo Abe on spending scandal
https://arab.news/pf3zr
Japan prosecutors seek to question ex-PM Shinzo Abe on spending scandal
- Under Japanese law, spending on political events must be reported
- Former prime minister Shinzo Abe has already denied any wrongdoing
Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro undergoes double hernia surgery
- He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure
- The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours
SAO PAULO: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is undergoing double hernia surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the country’s capital, his family said.
Bolsonaro, who has been hospitalized since Wednesday, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for an attempted coup.
He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure. The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours, the DF Star hospital medical team said in a statement Wednesday.
Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure, but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after he leaves the hospital.
Bolsonaro doesn’t have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is held and where his 12-square-meter (around 130-square-foot) room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.
He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s sons to visit him while he’s hospitalized. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, is accompanying him.
Early Thursday, his eldest son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as his political party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Dec. 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.
“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Dec. 25.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
