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TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's point man on tax reform has offered to resign after reports he set up home with a mistress in an upscale government-subsidised apartment, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.
The scandal over Tax Commission Chairman Masaaki Homma is a fresh blow to Abe, who appointed him last month to back the government's pro-growth policies.
A tabloid magazine had reported that Homma had been living with a girlfriend in an apartment set aside for civil servants in central Tokyo, while his wife remained at home in Osaka, western Japan.
Homma, an Osaka University economics professor, has acknowledged living in the apartment, despite not being a full-time civil servant, and said he was dating the woman while going through a divorce.
He was paying just 77,000 yen ($945) a month in rent for the three-bedroom apartment, the Asahi Shimbun said, rather than an estimated 500,000 yen that the apartment would fetch on the open market.
While serving on a different government panel in September, Homma drew up a report calling for the sale of government assets including apartments for civil servants.
The affair is an embarrassment for Abe, whose support ratings have tumbled on doubts about his commitment to economic reform since he came to office in September, urging a return to traditional values.
- REUTERS
