Japan's justice minister resigns after admitting crime syndicate ties
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Japanese Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka has decided to resign after admitting to have had ties with an organized crime syndicate, local media reported on Friday. -- PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO - Japanese Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka has decided to resign after admitting to have had ties with an organized crime syndicate, local media reported on Friday.
Keishu Tanaka, 74, will quit less than three weeks into his job after taking donations from a foreign national and attending a gangster's wedding years ago, NHK Television said.
Mr Tanaka was admitted to a Tokyo hospital for ill health, Kyodo News said, adding that he will resign. Neither NHK nor Kyodo said where they were getting the information.
"I have heard that Minister Tanaka is undergoing tests in the hospital," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters in Tokyo, Bloomberg website reported. "I have heard nothing about resignation."
