In a major blow to Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, the man appointed to investigate a widening scandal resigned today after saying he had accepted political donations from the company at the center of the controversy. Takeshita today named a political outsider, former Supreme Court Judge Masami Takatsuji, 78, to replace Justice Minister Takashi Hasegawa. Hasegawa announced he was stepping down just three days after Takeshita appointed him to a new Cabinet supposedly untainted by a stock-dealing scandal that had already forced the resignation of 17 politicians and business leaders. Opposition parties and analysts say Takeshita should follow the lead of those leaders and resign. Hasegawa's resignation, which occurred the day after Takeshita publicly reaffirmed his support for him, was the second Cabinet casualty. Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa stepped down on Dec. 9. Takeshita made no comment on the resignation of Hasegawa, 76. Takatsuji, a constitutional expert and former bureaucrat, served as a Supreme Court justice from 1973 to 1980. He is an unusual choice as a Cabinet member because he is not a career politician, the background of nearly all Cabinet ministers. Takeshita apparently decided it was necessary to go outside politics to find someone without links to the Recruit Co., the information conglomerate at the heart of the scandal over charges it sold unlisted stocks in a subsidiary to scores of politicians and business leaders at bargain prices. Asked at a news conference today if he had any connection to the Recruit affair, the new justice minister said: ``None at all.'' ``I don't really have anything to say about Recruit,'' Takatsuji said. ``My attitude toward it is no different from that of the people in general.'' His predecessor had been given a mandate to reform political ethics and head the legal probe of the Recruit scandal. But one day after Hasegawa's appointment, it was disclosed that Recruit had given money for 12 years to a group that financed his campaign and political activities. ``There is nothing wrong with politicians accepting donations made from the good will of their supporters,'' Hasegawa told reporters earlier today. ``However, as minister in charge of clearing up the Recruit problem in the Takeshita administration, which is trying to heighten trust in government, it is regrettable that I received donations from Recruit,'' he said. ``I apologize deeply and resign from my post as justice minister.'' The scandal has engulfed the Liberal Democrats, as several senior party lawmakers or their aides purchased shares in the subsidiary before the shares were offered publicly and later sold them at large tax-free profits. The transactions were legal but have generated a storm of controversy over business and political ethics. Prosecutors also are invesigating possible bribery. Leaders of the opposition Clean Government Party and the Democratic Socialist Party said Hasegawa's resignation was only natural, while the Communist Party called for the entire Cabinet to resign and new parliamentary elections. ``Takeshita should step down because he is connected to the Recruit affair himself and as long as he is appointing Cabinet ministers, government won't be clean,'' said Masayuki Fukuoka, a professor of political science at Komazawa University in Tokyo. ``There is no way for the Takeshita administration to regain its public support as more people will probably be arrested as the Recruit investigation advances next year,'' he said. It is widely perceived that the premier should consider resigning when public support dips below 20 percent, Fukuoka said. A newspaper poll this month found Takeshita's public support was 18 percent, down from 30 percent when he took office 13 months ago. An aide to Takeshita and one of his relatives also profited in the stock transactions, but the prime minister has denied any personal involvement. ``Takeshita cannot escape the responsibility of political reform that he has pledged, and he should resign,'' said Jiro Kamijima, professor of government at Tokyo's Rissho University. ``The entire parliament has been hijacked (by Recruit).'' Hasegawa confirmed Thursday that his political support organization received $46,000 from Recruit over the last 12 years, but Hasegawa said he had no knowledge of the donations. Other new Cabinet members have received donations from Recruit, including the agriculture and economic planning agency chiefs and Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi, who has acknowledged his political support group received monthly donations of $160 from Recruit.
