Takeshita Shuffles Cabinet in Bid to Erase Scandal, Names Tough Justice Minister

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, seeking to erase the shadow of a stock scandal that tainted his government, reshuffled the Cabinet today with an aggressive new justice minister at the forefront.

The 20-member Cabinet does not include any politicians linked to the so-called Recruit scandal, which led to the resignation of the finance minister and 16 other influential politicians and business leaders.

The scandal and the passage last week of a tax-reform package that includes a 3% sales tax have hurt the popularity of Takeshita’s government.

There were changes in four ministries touched by the scandal, even though the ministers themselves were not accused of personal involvement.

Takeshita left in place his foreign minister, his chief Cabinet secretary and two top leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party who are strong contenders to succeed him as prime minister.

The chief secretary, Keizo Obuchi, said the changes were in keeping with Takeshita’s promises to tighten political discipline.

Seen as a key to these efforts is the new justice minister, Takashi Hasegawa, 76, who heads a parliamentary committee on political ethics.

“I am aware that the public is losing confidence in politicians, business leaders and public officials,” Hasegawa said at a news conference following his appointment. “It is a serious matter to rectify it. For Japan to be trusted in the international arena, we have to start with establishing a trustworthy political system.”

In the scandal, a number of influential politicians and business leaders profited from bargain purchases of unlisted stock shares that rose sharply in price after their public offering.

While not illegal, the transactions in shares of Recruit-Cosmos, a real estate company, have been viewed as unethical gains.

Apart from the new Justice Ministry appointment, analysts said they expected no significant changes in government policies with the new Cabinet.

Besides Obuchi, others who kept their positions were Foreign Minister Sousuke Uno, Defense Agency Director-General Kichiro Tazawa and Finance Minister Tatsuo Murayama.

Murayama replaced Kiichi Miyazawa, who quit to take responsibility for an aide’s involvement in the scandal.

Two contenders to succeed Takeshita retained key party posts--Shintaro Abe as secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Michio Watanabe as party policy chief.