篡改文件丑聞沖擊安倍政府

A scandal over the cut-price sale of public land has rocked Japan’s government after the finance ministry admitted falsifying documents to exclude the names of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie.

圍繞低價(jià)出售公共土地的一起丑聞撼動(dòng)了日本政府，此前財(cái)務(wù)省承認(rèn)篡改文件，以去除首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)和他的妻子安倍昭恵(Akie Abe)的姓名。

The finance ministry said it made 14 alterations in documents submitted to parliament relating to the sale of land in Osaka to Moritomo Gakuen, an ultra-nationalist school operator

. 財(cái)務(wù)省表示，在提交給國會(huì)的相關(guān)文件上作了14處更改，這些文件涉及向極端民族主義的學(xué)校經(jīng)營者森友學(xué)園(Moritomo Gakuen)出售大阪的一個(gè)地塊。

The revelations have left Taro Aso, finance minister, clinging to his job and threaten Mr Abe’s chances of winning a third term as leader of the Liberal Democratic party this autumn.

這些爆料使財(cái)務(wù)大臣麻生太郎(Taro Aso)受到辭職壓力，并危及安倍晉三今秋贏得自民黨黨魁第三個(gè)任期的機(jī)會(huì)。

Alterations occurred between February and April last year and were made by “a group of staff in the financial bureau”, said Mr Aso. Mr Aso said he did not know about the alterations until Sunday and blamed the senior bureaucrat in charge. He refused to resign.

麻生太郎表示，去年2月至4月期間做出的上述更改，是由“財(cái)務(wù)局部分職員”做出的。他表示自己只是在剛剛過去的周日才了解這些改動(dòng)，并將這件事歸咎于負(fù)責(zé)的高級(jí)官員。他拒絕辭職。

“The person ultimately responsible is the head of the financial bureau at that time, [Nobuhisa] Sagawa,” he said. Mr Sagawa resigned as head of Japan’s tax agency on Friday.

“最終負(fù)責(zé)人是時(shí)任理財(cái)局長的佐川宣壽(Nobuhisa Sagawa)，”麻生太郎表示。佐川已在上周五辭去國稅廳長官職務(wù)。

Opposition leaders said Mr Aso’s explanation was “improbable”. Parliamentary investigators are likely to concentrate on discovering who ordered the alterations and why, with the apparent cover up now a bigger risk to the government than the original land sale.

反對(duì)黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人表示，麻生太郎的解釋“不太可能”。國會(huì)調(diào)查人員可能會(huì)專注于查明誰下令進(jìn)行更改以及為什么。相比原本的土地出售交易，這一明顯的掩蓋行為如今對(duì)政府構(gòu)成更大風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

“This situation could shake confidence in all our public administration so I feel a keen responsibility,” said Mr Abe, vowing a thorough investigation. “I apologise to the public.”

“這是有可能動(dòng)搖整個(gè)行政部門的事態(tài)。作為行政部門的最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，我痛感應(yīng)負(fù)的責(zé)任，”安倍誓言要進(jìn)行徹底調(diào)查。“謹(jǐn)向國民深表歉意。”

Moritomo Gakuen is controversial for its nationalist curriculum, aimed at instilling patriotism in small children, and its links to senior politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic party.

森友學(xué)園因其民族主義教學(xué)大綱(旨在向小小年紀(jì)的孩子們灌輸愛國主義)以及與執(zhí)政的自民黨高層政治人物的聯(lián)系而備受爭議。

The scandal began last year when it emerged that Moritomo paid ¥134m for land with an appraisal value of ¥956m. Mrs Abe was going to be honorary principal of a new primary school on the site.

這起丑聞在去年爆發(fā)，當(dāng)時(shí)有消息稱，森友學(xué)園以1.34億日元買下了評(píng)估價(jià)值達(dá)到9.56億日元的地皮。按照原來的安排，安倍夫人將出任在該地塊上一所新建小學(xué)的榮譽(yù)校長。

Controversy died down when no evidence emerged tying Mr Abe to the sale. But the unedited documents show that bureaucrats involved in the sale were aware of the political backing for Moritomo.

由于沒有證據(jù)證明這樁交易與安倍晉三有牽扯，爭議曾漸漸平息下來。但是未經(jīng)編輯的文件顯示，參與此次出售的官僚們知道森友學(xué)園的政治后臺(tái)。

According to one reference excised by the finance ministry, Moritomo Gakuen described a visit by Mrs Abe, who allegedly said: “This is a good plot of land so please go ahead.” The documents also mention the names of several senior LDP politicians, including Mr Abe, as connections of the school operator.

財(cái)務(wù)省刪除的一段文字稱，森友學(xué)園描述了安倍夫人的訪問，據(jù)稱她當(dāng)時(shí)說：“這是一塊不錯(cuò)的地皮，請(qǐng)推進(jìn)此事。”這些文件還提到了自民黨幾名政治人物(包括安倍晉三)的姓名，稱他們是學(xué)校經(jīng)營者的關(guān)系。

Mr Abe has always denied any involvement with the land sale. Analysts said there was no smoking gun to suggest national leaders had ordered the sale, but it will be hard to escape questions about why the finance ministry altered the documents.

安倍始終否認(rèn)涉及這筆土地出售交易。分析人士表示，沒有確鑿證據(jù)表明國家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人下令出售這塊地皮，但是，要擺脫外界對(duì)于財(cái)務(wù)省為什么更改文件的質(zhì)疑將是很難的。

“It is difficult to believe that Mr Aso will be able to escape taking responsibility when his own ministry provided false information to the Diet,” said Tobias Harris, who follows Japan at Teneo Intelligence.

“考慮到他自己的部門向國會(huì)提供了虛假信息，很難相信麻生太郎能夠逃避責(zé)任，”特尼歐情報(bào)公司(Teneo Intelligence)追蹤日本事態(tài)的托拜厄斯•哈里斯(Tobias Harris)表示。

Mr Harris said the prime minister was not yet at risk of a hasty resignation, but the scandal would spur “Abe fatigue”, making it harder for him to secure another term as leader this autumn.

哈里斯表示，首相還沒有面臨倉促辭職的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，但這起丑聞將會(huì)助燃“安倍疲憊”，使他更難在今秋再次當(dāng)選黨魁。

Last Friday police reported the apparent suicide of a finance ministry official in Kobe. It is unclear whether the death is linked to the scandal, but the victim was reportedly a mid-level official in the department responsible for the land sale.

上周五警方報(bào)告，財(cái)務(wù)省一名職員在神戶被發(fā)現(xiàn)自殺。目前尚不清楚這起死亡事件是否與丑聞?dòng)嘘P(guān)，但受害者據(jù)稱是負(fù)責(zé)出售土地的部門的一名中級(jí)職員。