Embattled farm minister Norihiko Akagi, already under fire over a political fund scandal, was hit by another revelation Friday that his two support groups booked a total of about 200,000 yen in mail costs in 2003 by attaching photocopies of the same receipts to their official funds reports.
The agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister passed by a mob of waiting reporters at Narita airport without comment upon his return from a trip to China, where he had been promoting sales of Japanese rice. Akagi then went to a hospital in Tokyo as he was feeling unwell, a ministry official said.
The two entities involved are a local branch of the Liberal Democratic Party in Ibaraki Prefecture that Akagi heads as the elected Diet member from the constituency, and his own support group, Akagi Norihiko Koenkai.
Akagi's office has already contacted the Ibaraki Prefectural Election Board and corrected the support group's report as a "paperwork error."
Using receipts for 130,435 yen and 65,650 yen, respectively, the LDP branch reported that it paid the sums on Sept. 11, 2003, to two post offices in Mito as costs for sending circulars.
Akagi's own support group reported the same sums being paid on the same day to another post office in Mito.
Akagi has been criticized for refusing to disclose receipts for expenditures booked for an office at his parents' home. His parents initially said their home was not used as an office for political activity, but later retracted the remarks.
It was also revealed last week that Akagi booked 12.15 million yen in operating expenses in Tokyo for another political group over the seven years to 2003 even after it relocated in 1996 to Shimotsuma, Ibaraki Prefecture, and in 2000 to the home of his treasurer in the same city.