Spending Time with Empty Answers

Based on its voluntary calculation, Asahi Shimbun reported that discussion in the Diet over Moritomo scandal wasted twelve hours by empty reply of the leaders or staffs of government. While lawmakers with opposite parties tried to reveal the truth, staffs of the government reiterated “I do not reconfirm” or “I do not remember.” Asahi criticizes Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of his accusation of the opposite party as repeating the same question, because it has been Abe administration that made the discussion empty.

Asahi reviewed the time for discussion over Moritomo scandal, in which state-owned land property was doubted to have inappropriately been sold to a school corporation called Moritomo Gakuen, between February 9^th and May 31^st. The discussion was made in the Plenary Sittings of both Houses of Representatives and Councillors and six committees in both Houses.

The research found that 8 hours and 13 minutes was wasted by empty answers of the government staffs that denied reconfirming related facts. One fourths of the time period was spent for questions and answers about the mediation of a lawmaker, Yoshitada Konoike, between Moritomo and Kinki Local Finance Bureau. Staffs of Ministry of Finance rejected reporting the facts for four weeks until Chairman of Committee on Financial Affairs ordered it. “Information can be obtained through internet. We do not need to reconfirm them in detail,” Chief of Financial Bureau of MoF, Nobuhisa Sagawa, answered to the request of discovering the facts.

3 hours and 57 minutes was wasted for reconfirmation or explanation for false argument of governmental staffs contradicting the facts. MoF discounted state-owned land in Osaka by 800 million yen for Moritomo, because of discovery of buried debris needed to remove. Staffs of MoF could not determine when and where they found the debris and wasted 2 hours and 16 minutes for reconfirming them. The place of discovered debris has yet identified.

In the Committee on Budget Affairs of House of Councillors, Minister of Defense, Tomomi Inada, told that she had never been an adviser of Moritomo or made legal advise. When a lawmaker presented a document, which describes “Counsel for Mortitomo Gakuen, Lawyer, Tomomi Inada,” Inada denied her attendance to any trial or advisory. But, when a new document, that indicated attendance of Inada to the court as counsel for Moritomo, was reported, Inada admitted her wrong memory and apologized. That wasted 1 hour and 7 minutes.

Asahi introduced a comment of Professor with Takachiho University, Ikuo Gonoi, that criticized the government. “It is a minimum obligation for the government to sincerely answer to the question of the lawmakers who represent the people. Not doing that is as same as fooling the people,” told Gonoi.