Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quick Friday in trying to contain a potential political donation scandal stemming from Thursday's arrests of five pork traders in connection with a record 14 billion yen tariff-evasion case.
Reports late Thursday night said that an arrested Tokyo branch chief of a meat importer had donated 6 million yen to Abe's support groups over 12 years through this year.
On Friday morning, Abe's office admitted receiving the donations but added that it returned the entire amount after the news broke. Abe's office claims there is no legal problem with the donations.
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