Japan minister quits over graft claims

Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari resigned abruptly yesterday to take responsibility for a political funding scandal that has rocked the government, but denied having taken bribes.

The resignation of Amari, who has spear-headed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies, could pose a setback to the administration's "Abenomics" growth plan aimed at driving Japan out of deflation, analysts said.

But the government moved swiftly to contain the fallout by appointing Nobuteru Ishihara, a former minister, as his replacement.

In a packed news conference televised live, Amari acknowledged taking money from a construction company executive but said he told his aides to correctly record the funds as a political donation.

While asserting his legal innocence, Amari said he was stepping down to prevent the scandal from being a distraction to the Abe administration's drive to pull the country out of deflation.

"Japan is finally emerging from deflation," he said. "We need to pass legislation through parliament for steps to beat deflation and create a strong economy as soon as possible."

"Anything that hampers this must be eliminated, and I'm no exception. I, therefore, would like to resign as minister to take responsibility" for what he said his aides had done.

Part of the money has gone missing because of mishaps by his secretaries, Amari said, but two of them have resigned and he must take responsibility as their supervisor.

Just hours before the news conference, Amari had said he would fulfil his duties as minister "with utmost effort".

Amari is a close ally of the prime minister and a core member of his policy team. He led Japan's negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade bloc.