森友學園丑聞疑云未散 涉事官員拒絕牽連安倍晉三

The official at the heart of a cronyism scandal engulfing Shinzo Abe’s government has insisted that the Japanese prime minister and his aides did not order him to falsify documents.

日本首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)政府深陷朋黨丑聞，但這起丑聞的核心官員堅稱，首相及其助手并沒有命令他偽造文件。

Nobuhisa Sagawa, an ex-finance ministry bureaucrat, said the decision to alter documents about a sale of public land was made by his staff alone. He said there were no orders from Mr Abe, his wife Akie Abe, finance minister Taro Aso or any of the prime minister’s aides.

前財務省官員佐川宣壽(Nobuhisa Sagawa)表示，修改出售公共土地文件的決定是他手下的工作人員獨自做出的。他說，安倍晉三、其夫人安倍昭恵(Akie Abe)、財務大臣麻生太郎(Taro Aso) 、或首相的任何助手都沒有下達過這樣的命令。

But in a testimony to the upper house of parliament, Mr Sagawa declined to say anything about why the documents were falsified, pleading his right to avoid self-incrimination. “There is a risk of criminal charges so I decline to comment,” he said repeatedly.

但在向國會參議院作證時，佐川拒絕說明文件被偽造的原因，并且申辯說他有權(quán)避免自證有罪。他一再表示：“有被刑事起訴的風險，所以我拒絕發(fā)表評論。”

On the surface, Mr Sagawa’s refusal to implicate Mr Abe is good news for the prime minister. But the official’s failure to answer questions means the scandal will continue to tarnish the government.

表面上看，佐川拒絕牽連安倍，這對首相來說是個好消息。但他沒有回答任何問題則意味著政府仍無法與丑聞撇清關系。

A recent opinion poll by the Nikkei newspaper showed the government’s approval rating has fallen to 42 per cent, down 14 percentage points from the previous reading in February.

《日本經(jīng)濟新聞》(Nikkei)最近的一項民意調(diào)查顯示，政府的支持率已降至42%，較2月份下降了14個百分點。

Earlier this month, the finance ministry admitted to falsifying numerous documents it had submitted to parliament. The documents related to the cut-price sale of public land to Moritomo Gakuen, an ultra-nationalist school operator.

本月早些時候，財務省承認偽造了許多提交給國會的文件。這些文件涉及將一塊公共土地低價出售給奉行極端民族主義的學校運營商森友學園(Moritomo Gakuen)。

The documents were changed to exclude mentions of Mr Abe and Akie. Mrs Abe was going to be honorary principal of a new primary school on the site, which was sold for ¥134m despite having an appraisal value of ¥956m.

文件被修改，刪去了安倍晉三和安倍昭恵的名字。這塊土地的售價為1.34億日元，而估值為9.56億日元。安倍昭恵將擔任在這塊土地上建成的新小學的名譽校長。

Opposition leaders rounded on Mr Sagawa, saying he had failed to explain anything, and repeated their demands for Mrs Abe to testify.

反對黨領袖對佐川的作證進行了抨擊，稱他沒有解釋任何事情，并重申讓安倍昭恵作證的要求。

“His completely insincere answers have only deepened our suspicions,” said Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the opposition Constitutional Democratic party of Japan.

“他那完全不真誠的回答只會加深我們的懷疑，”日本反對黨立憲民主黨干事長福山哲郎(Tetsuro Fukuyama)說。

“Despite refusing to testify about the details, the one thing he can do is disavow the involvement of the prime minister’s office,” said Mr Fukuyama. “It’s completely illogical.”

“盡管他拒絕就細節(jié)作證，但他能做的一件事是否認首相辦公室與此事相關，”福山表示，“這完全不合邏輯。”

Mr Abe has always insisted he had nothing to do with the land sale and so far there is no evidence to show otherwise. But the seeming cover-up has done enormous damage to his government.

安倍一直堅稱自己與這塊土地的出售無關，到目前為止，還沒有證據(jù)顯示他與此事有關。但是，這種貌似掩蓋真相的做法已經(jīng)給他的政府造成了巨大損害。

Analysts doubt the prime minister will step down but the list of unanswered questions means the crisis is likely to linger. That is sapping Mr Abe’s authority and making it harder for him to secure another term as leader of the ruling party this autumn.

一些分析人士懷疑首相會下臺，但一系列得不到解答的問題意味著這場危機可能會持續(xù)。這將削弱安倍的權(quán)威，加大他在今年秋季連任執(zhí)政黨領袖的難度。

Prosecutors continue to probe the original land sale as well as the falsification of documents. While Mr Sagawa declined to say anything in parliament, much will depend on whether he is more forthcoming with the legal authorities.

檢察官繼續(xù)調(diào)查土地出售的原始和偽造文件。盡管佐川在國會三緘其口，但事態(tài)會如何發(fā)展，很大程度上將取決于在面對司法當局時，他是否會更愿意作答。