Akira Amari, in an April 2015 photo.
Expensive sweet bean confections and more than $148,000 in cash could have lured the current Japanese economic minister to take a bribe – while negotiating terms for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Tokyo’s top fiscal policy chief Akira Amari has been at the center of a possible graft scandal, after a Japanese tabloid, Shukan Bunshun, alleged Amari accepted a large sum of money from a Japanese construction firm, The Japan Times reported.
Amari played a critical role in reaching an agreement with the United States and other members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal that was sealed in October. Japan agreed on the deal because it would facilitate Japanese business expansion overseas.
On Wednesday Amari played down the charges, and said, “I swear that I have done nothing that would make me worthy of public criticism.”