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.

圍繞低價出售公共土地的一起丑聞撼動了日本政府，此前財務省承認篡改文件，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

. 財務省表示，在提交給國會的相關文件上作了14處更改，這些文件涉及向極端民族主義的學校經營者森友學園(Moritomo Gakuen)出售大阪的一個地塊。

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.

這些爆料使財務大臣麻生太郎(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任期的機會。

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“財務局部分職員”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，并將這件事歸咎于負責的高級官員。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.

“最終負責人是時任理財局長的佐川宣壽(Nobuhisa Sagawa)，”麻生太郎表示。佐川已在上周五辭去國稅廳長官職務。

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.

反對黨領導人表示，麻生太郎的解釋“不太可能”。國會調查人員可能會專注于查明誰下令進行更改以及為什么。相比原本的土地出售交易，這一明顯的掩蓋行為如今對政府構成更大風險。

“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.”

“這是有可能動搖整個行政部門的事態(tài)。作為行政部門的最高領導，我痛感應負的責任，”安倍誓言要進行徹底調查。“謹向國民深表歉意。”

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.

森友學園因其民族主義教學大綱(旨在向小小年紀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)，當時有消息稱，森友學園以1.34億日元買下了評估價值達到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的榮譽校長。

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。但是未經編輯的文件顯示，參與此次出售的官僚們知道森友學園的政治后臺。

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.

財務省刪除的一段文字稱，森友學園描述了安倍夫人的訪問，據(jù)稱她當時說：“這是一塊不錯的地皮，請推進此事。”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，稱他們是學校經營者的關系。

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)表明國家領導人下令出售這塊地皮，但是，要擺脫外界對于財務省為什么更改文件的質疑將是很難的。

“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提供了虛假信息，很難相信麻生太郎能夠逃避責任，”特尼歐情報公司(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險，但這起丑聞將會助燃“安倍疲憊”，使他更難在今秋再次當選黨魁。

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.

上周五警方報告，財務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有關，但受害者據(jù)稱是負責出售土地的部門的一名中級職員。