Japan PM 'surprised' at reports of dubious funds from mother

(AFP) – 5 days ago

TOKYO — Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he was "surprised" about media reports that his millionaire mother gave him dubious political donations.

"I am very much surprised at what has been reported," he told reporters, as a scandal involving his fund-raising body appeared to widen about two months into his premiership.

"What has been done without my knowledge at all? Is it (what has been reported) true or not? They (the reports) have all surprised me very much," he said.

Hatoyama's fund-raising body allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from his mother Yasuko, the eldest daughter of Bridgestone founder Shojiro Ishibashi, the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily also said Yasuko, a major shareholder of the Japanese tyremaker, secretly provided 1.5 million yen (17,000 dollars) a year to the fund-raising body, which, if correct, may violate the political funds law.

The prime minister said he hoped that the "truth will be brought to light" through ongoing investigations by public prosecutors.

In a related development, a former aide to Hatoyama is now facing indictment for misreporting political donations, media reports said Tuesday.

Hatoyama fired the aide in June, when he was still opposition leader, and admitted to sloppy account-keeping by the fund-raising body, which had listed the names of dead people as well as people who later denied giving money.

The centre-left prime minister hails from a wealthy political family often dubbed "Japan's Kennedys" and has also faced media accusations he used his personal fortune to bankroll some of his political activities.

Hatoyama took power in mid-September after a landslide election win that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule.

Support for his cabinet has dropped to 63 percent amid a probe into the donation scandal, the Yomiuri Shimbun said in its poll in mid-November.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told reporters: "Our prime minister has apologised to the people. He is looking at the developments based on the assumption that he will cooperate in the investigation."

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