Friday, July 13, 2007 4:57 am | 
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LDP reform group withheld new rules ‘out of consideration’ for beleaguered minister
The Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) Reform Group cancelled a Wednesday press conference on new office expenditure rules “out of consideration” for Farm Minister Norihiko Akagi, who has recently become involved in a scandal over precisely such problems the new rules are meant to prevent, the Asahi Shimbun reported Thursday.
According to Asahi, the reform group argued that if they were to announce new rules demanding party members to reveal much more information than what Akagi has so-far agreed to do, it would make Akagi’s explanations seem all the more insufficient.
The new rules would apply for all LDP members of parliament’s political organization’s offices, and divide expenditures into 5 different categories, such as rent, communications expenses, etc. The rules would also mean that the filed expenditures would have to be made public, which is precisely what Akagi refused to do on Tuesday.
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While low-cost carriers have since long been successfully operating throughout the U.S., Europe, and southern Asia, Japan has seen very little of the low-price action.
[…] The allegations come only 9 days before the Japanese upper house election and only 2 weeks after similar accusations were directed against Farm Minister Akagi Norihiko, and a week after the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presented new rules for dealing with political funding. […]