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- WORLD, Page 38World NotesJAPANA Scandal by Any Name
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- In Japan's chronic influence-peddling scandals, only some of
- the names seem to change. Last week another probe into the
- governing Liberal Democratic Party's pervasive cronyism ended
- in the arrest of Fumio Abe, one of Prime Minis ter Kiichi
- Miyazawa's most senior political allies and a party stalwart.
- He was seized on suspicion of having illegally pocketed more
- than $540,000 from the Kyowa Corp. for helping the steel-frame
- maker win lucrative contracts.
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- The Prime Minister called the arrest, the first of an
- incumbent Diet member since the Lockheed bribery scandal of the
- 1970s, "regrettable indeed." For Miyazawa, whose government
- recently suffered legislative setbacks, the case resurrects
- memories that he and his party would rather keep buried. Along
- with other leading officials, he resigned three years ago during
- a notorious bribery affair involving the Recruit
- information-services empire. Opposition parties plan to dissect
- the latest mess amid news reports of more ruling-party misdeeds.
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