Suga’s PR chief resigns after meal tied to Japan broadcaster
Yamada’s job included the accountability of choosing reporters to ask questions at Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s information conferences.
The broadcaster in query, Tohokushinsha Film Corp., employs Suga’s son. That has raised suspicions of cronyism in a nation the place plum jobs are sometimes onerous to come by with out connections.
Accepting lavish wining and eating is a violation of laws overseeing bureaucrats’ ethics. There had been a number of such dinners the ministry officers had allegedly accepted, together with cab fares.
Other ministry bureaucrats reportedly on the dinner have been penalized. The president of Tohokushinsha resigned final month.
Government spokesman Katsunobu Kato advised Parliament on Monday that Yamada resigned. She was hospitalized for 2 weeks for an sickness and might’t stick with it her duties, and Suga accepted the resignation, Kato mentioned. Details of her illness weren’t given.
Yamada had held different bureaucratic jobs, together with on the ministry overseeing telecommunications. Suga was a minister there earlier than turning into prime minister.
The ministry has the authority to award bandwidth utilization rights to broadcasters.
Public anger towards Suga’s administration has been rising amid the scandals and as Japan pushes forward with the Tokyo Olympics regardless of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yamada had been seen as a task mannequin of feminine management in a nation that has lagged in gender equality.
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
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