Takeshita gives Recruit details

Press, 4 April 1989, Page 38

Takeshita gives Recruit details

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Japan’s Prime Minister, Noboru Takeshita, said he knew in May, 1987 that Recruit, the company at the centre of a shares-for-favours scandal, had made a large donation to his backing group. Mr Takeshita also said he realised that the amount was unusually large for one company to contribute. "I was personally aware that Recruit had bought some 20 million yen-worth ($NZ252,583.23) of party tickets,” Mr Takeshita told a budget committee session in Parliament. Recruit Company, a jobplacement and telecommunications firm, is suspected of handing out shares, gifts and contributions to more than 100 public figures in return for political and business fav-

ours. Mr Takeshita’s secretary was among the recipients of the unlisted shares of a Recruit subsidiary, prices of which skyrocketed after the company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Mr Takeshita has denied that he received any shares himself. So far, 13 businessmen and senior bureaucrats have been arrested in the Recruit scandal, which has already forced three Cabinet Ministers to resign. Mr Takeshita’s popularity rating has dropped to a record low of 9 per cent, compared with some 57 per cent in late 1987 when he took office.

Opposition parties have all called for Mr Takeshita’s resignation over the affair and have boycotted most parliamentary sessions.