Abe shaken by favours scandal

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has been dogged by allegations of special favours linked to the sale of government land.

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Shinzo and Akai Abe: dogged by controversy
(Image credit: 2016 Foreign Ministry of Japan)

"Forget secret meetings with foreign powers, illegal wiretapping or hotel break-ins, the scandal that dogs Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe involves an elementary school," says Shoko Oda in Bloomberg. Controversy over the cheap sale of government land to an education foundation linked to Abe's wife has been given a new lease of life by revelations that officials in Japan's treasury altered several documents, removing the names of "Abe, his wife and Finance MinisterTaro Aso". So far, "the furore has accounted for the head of Japan's tax agency". Now there are calls for Aso to resign too.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

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