Japan PM and hotel differ on how controversial pre-sakura party dinner was handled February 18, 2020 (Mainichi Japan) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds documents regarding payments to and receipts from the hotel where a pre-party dinner took place on the eve of a cherry blossom-viewing party, submitted by opposition legislators during intensive deliberations at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on Feb. 17, 2020. (Mainichi/Masahiro Kawata) In Diet deliberations over the tax-funded annual cherry blossom-viewing party hosted by the prime minister, crucial gaps have emerged between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's testimony and responses given by a hotel, where pre-party dinner functions on the eve of the main gathering have been held 新作ブランドコピー  to questions from opposition lawmakers and the Mainichi Shimbun.【Related】Editorial: PM Abe's absurd statements in Japan parliament an insult to the people【Related】Opposition legislator says handling of Abe's sakura party reminiscent of money laundering【Related】Some guests at dinner held before PM Abe's sakura party allegedly didn't pay fee The pre-sakura party dinner in April 2019 took place at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, and was attended by some 800 guests. Pre-parties were held other years as well, including 2015, 2017 and 2018 at the Hotel New Otani, and 2013, 2014 and 2016 at the ANA InterContinental Hotel in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The prime minister had until now repeated that for the pre-party hosted by his supporters' association スーパーコピーブランド時計  the hotels had not issued any quotes or detailed statements, and that the price of 5,000 yen per head had been set by the hotels. He also explained that the party fee was collected from individual attendees at the entrance of the venue by a staff member of Abe's local constituency office, who then gave the participants a receipt issued by the hotel. Abe said that after all the money was collected by his staff, it was turned over then and there to the hotel. The prime minister has argued that because of this スーパーコピー財布  no income or outlays resulted from the process for the Abe office. Abe also said that the receipts were written by hand by a hotel staffer, and the addressee was left blank. At a session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee on the morning of Feb. 17, Kiyomi Tsujimoto of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) revealed that she had questioned ANA InterContinental Hotel in writing 時計コピー  and had received a response. The opposition bloc has thus far focused on the party fee of 5,000 yen as too low, and has accused the failure of the prime minister's supporters' association to record the funds in its income and expenditure reports on political funds as "illegal." Tsujimoto showed an email in which the ANA InterContinental gave responses to her questions, which said: there are no cases in which it does not issue detailed statements to event hosts; it has never issued receipts with the addressee blank; and it does not collect fees from individual participants instead of the host of an event. "The responses upend the prime minister's answers," Tsujimoto said. In response, Prime Minister Abe stated that he would like to confirm the facts with the ANA InterContinental Hotel. In the afternoon session of the same committee following a break, he said, "My office checked with the hotel ブランドコピー時計  and they said that they were merely responding to Ms. Tsujimoto in general terms. They said that speaking of individual cases would infringe on the confidentiality of operations, so individual cases were not included (in their response to Tsujimoto)." In addition, Abe emphasized that staff from his office and the hotel merely coordinated prior to the dinner party on how the payments would be made and receipts distributed, and that his staff "did not receive any detailed statements." As for receipts, he explained that it was possible that they were issued without specific addressees on them. Although the prime minister tried to deflect questions about detailed statements by reducing them to an issue of "general terms," on the evening of Feb. 17, the ANA InterContinental told the Mainichi in an email, "There is no truth to the statement that we spoke about 'confidentiality of operations.'" Regarding the prime minister's statement in the Diet that the hotel was speaking in general terms to Tsujimoto, the hotel wrote, "The hotel staff who spoke directly with the prime minister's staff explained that they spoke 'in general terms,' but they did not mean there were exceptions." The hotel went on to say that it always issues detailed statements to its clients. Such comments from the hotel means the prime minister has more explaining to do. In response to the differences in the ANA InterContinental's remarks and the prime minister's statements in the Diet, Kazunori Yamanoi, an independent lawmaker who is a member of a parliamentary group with the CDP and other parties, argued, "If the prime minister wants us to believe his statements in the Diet, he should get responses from the hotel in writing." But the prime minister rejected Yamanoi's suggestion, saying, "If nothing can be trusted unless it is in writing, then the committee's sessions must all have to take place in writing." The opposition bloc boycotted the lower house Budget Committee meeting the morning of Feb. 18, demanding that the prime minister present answers in writing. The ruling bloc went ahead with the session without the opposition present. (Japanese original by Shinya Oba, Integrated Digital News Center) Font Size SML Print Go to The Mainichi Home Page Related Articles【Related】Editorial: PM Abe's absurd statements in Japan parliament an insult to the people【Related】Opposition legislator says handling of Abe's sakura party reminiscent of money laundering【Related】Some guests at dinner held before PM Abe's sakura party allegedly didn't pay fee