Japan's State Minister of Finance Kanda Kenji has admitted that a company he owns had repeatedly failed to pay taxes. The revelation came in an Upper House committee meeting following a report from a weekly magazine.
Kanda was questioned by an opposition lawmaker about the information in the article. He acknowledged that his company had been behind on paying property taxes for land and buildings in its possession. He said the firm's assets had been seized by the tax authorities on four occasions.
He also apologized for causing trouble for everyone.
Kanda, who is a certified tax accountant himself, explained that he was busy performing his duties as a lawmaker and entrusted the handling of documents including tax notices to an accounting firm. He said he couldn't exercise sufficient oversight and hadn't intended to take his tax obligations lightly.
When asked if he would resign his post as minister, he said he would like to remain and continue his duties.