A civic group continues to receive signatures from the public which is angry over National Tax Agency Commissioner Nobuhisa Sagawa’s answer in the Diet that documents pertaining to the land sale to Moritomo Gakuen were all discarded and demands he resign. The “group of citizens who do not allow the end of the Moritomo and Kake Gakuen scandals” (led by Satoshi Daigo, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo) collected about 10,000 signatures from Aug. 1 through Aug. 20 and presented them to Finance minister Taro Aso along with a letter requesting Sagawa’s dismissal. But signatures continue to arrive. Over 900 additional signatures were sent to the group.

Of the more than 10,000 signatures, including the additional ones, over 2,000 had angry messages attached to them. One message sent from a business owner in Kanagawa Prefecture says, “Is the excuse ‘documents discarded’ one that can be used by citizens in response to tax investigations?” There was also a signature from a tax office employee, who asks him to resign immediately because the scandal is causing disruption in the work place. 

“Tax forms the basis of the nation,” said Daigo in his interview with the Tokyo Shimbun. “Taxpayers are expressing opinions and more people are paying attention to politics. This is very important for democracy.”

The group demanded Sagawa be dismissed by claiming that “the Constitution states “All public officials are servants of the whole community and not of any group thereof” and Sagawa’s de facto refusal to give an explanation at the Diet shows he is not qualified to be a public official.” (Abridged)