Prime Minister Abe blames shredding of documents of ‘cherry blossom viewing party’ invitations on the “work schedule of the disabled contractor in charge”

From Reuters

December 4th 2019

TOKYO– Japan erupted with online anger Wednesday after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who won’t reveal guests at a controversial party due to “respect for privacy,” told Parliament the operator of a shredder that destroyed the guest list was disabled.

Opposition lawmakers allege Abe favored supporters with invites to an annual state-funded cherry blossom viewing party and may have broken campaign laws by subsidizing backers’ attendance at a reception the night before, a scandal that has eaten away at support for his administration. 

Questions have also arisen over why this year’s guest list was shredded the same day opposition lawmakers asked for it. Abe has denied wrongdoing, saying the timing was a coincidence and revealing the names of guests would infringe on their privacy. 

Under questioning in parliament on Tuesday, Abe repeated this explanation, adding the shredding took place when it did “because of the work schedule of the disabled contractor in charge”. 

Abe’s comment set off a social media firestorm and was one of the top trending topics on Japanese Twitter on Wednesday.