Photo/Illutration Kiyomi Tsujimoto of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan asks former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about illegal political fund reports of his support group headed by a former aide. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

Opposition party member Kiyomi Tsujimoto ignited another heated exchange with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Diet on Dec. 25 by immediately demanding that he resign as a lawmaker.

Abe again apologized in the Lower House Rules and Administration Committee on Dec. 25 for damaging the trust of the Diet by making responses that were not based on fact in connection with payments for annual dinner parties in Tokyo held for his supporters from his constituency in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

He has said his false statements stemmed from misinformation given by his top state-paid aide, the only person legally punished in the scandal.

Tsujimoto of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan rejected Abe’s explanation.

“If a company president made a dishonest explanation in public more than 100 times and tried to make the excuse that he has been fooled by his employees, do you think anyone will believe him?” Tsujimoto asked Abe. “While having an employee take responsibility and with the president not suffering any damage at all, do you think he would be allowed to say, ‘I will go back to the basics and do my best from now on?’”

Tsujimoto was referring to the finding by the Lower House research bureau that Abe had made false responses in the Diet on 118 occasions regarding the hotel receptions, including repeated denials that his side made any payments for the banquets.

The aide, who headed a support group for Abe, received a summary indictment the previous day for failing to list expenses for the annual parties in the group’s political fund reports. He paid a fine and resigned as Abe’s aide.

“If this was a private-sector company, the president would have to resign because he has failed in his responsibility for legal compliance,” Tsujimoto told Abe. “Are you even aware that you have done even more than that in this legislative branch of government?”

But Abe refused to resign.

“I want to make every effort to recover the trust of the public,” he said. “I will try to further improve myself by becoming much more serious about my work.”

While he was still prime minister, opposition lawmakers peppered Abe with questions in the Diet about the hotel receptions organized by his support groups on the eve of the cherry blossom viewing parties hosted by Abe in Tokyo.

He insisted that the support group did not have to report any payments because it did not provide any funds for those receptions.

The prosecutors’ investigation showed those statements from Abe were not true.

Abe was also at a loss for words when Tsujimoto pressed him about other political fund reports submitted by the same support group.

The group revised the reports for only three years, in line with the summary indictment filed against the aide.

However, the hotel receptions have been held every year since Abe began his second stint as prime minister in late 2012.

Tsujimoto asked Abe if the political fund reports for the four years after he took office also contained illegalities.

Abe only said that the legally prescribed period for holding on to the annual political fund reports had expired for those four years, and that the reports had been discarded.

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