Farm minister commits suicide

Japan's farm minister, Toshikatsu Matsuoka -- under fire for a series of political funding and bid-rigging scandals -- has committed suicide on Monday.

TOKYO, May 28, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's farm minister, who has been embroiled in a scandal over political funds that sent the government's approval ratings plummeting, attempted suicide on Monday.
Toshikatsu Matsuoka, minister for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, was found unconscious in his residence for lawmakers in Tokyo, the government said, adding he was in a critical condition.
"According to police, he was found today at 12:18 pm (0318 GMT) unconscious at the Akasaka dormitory. The person who found him made an emergency call," chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a brief news conference.
He declined to give details. Public broadcaster NHK said an aide had found Matsuoka hanging from the door of his living room and called medics.
The 62-year-old minister has been embroiled in a scandal involving political funding and bid-rigging.
Two committees set up to support his electoral campaigns allegedly received money from a group of businesses, which then made bids for public works projects doled out by the government, according to media reports.
Prosecutors last week arrested two senior officials of the government body involved in the scandal, which involves work building roads in forests.
Matsuoka has also come under fire for allegedly claiming a large bill for expenses on water and other utilities at his rent-free office building. While he is not legally required to publicly report such expenses, the opposition has demanded that he explain the spending, as the building is managed by the government.
Earlier Monday, newspaper opinion polls said the scandal was a factor that has caused approval for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government to tumble.
Support for the cabinet's performance fell to 32 percent, down 11 points from April and the lowest level since Abe came to power in September, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
Abe had previously been seen as easily coasting to a victory in national elections due in July.
Abe, at 52 Japan's youngest post-World War II prime minister, has tried hard to shake off perecptions that he cannot control the old guard of his party, which has ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955.
Two of Abe's top aides resigned late last year in separate scandals, while other ministers have made embarrassing gaffes.
Matsuoka, known as a staunch advocate for the farm and construction lobbies, has been closely involved in such hot-button issues as deadlocked World Trade Organisation negotiations and US calls for Japan to open further its market to US beef.
Matsuoka, a native of the southern city of Kumamoto, spent almost all of his career as a bureaucrat in the agriculture ministry before being elected to parliament in 1990 as a candidate of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party.
He was appointed to the minister's post in September when Abe took over from reform-minded premier Junichiro Koizumi.