Ken Harada (politician)

Ken Harada (原田 憲, Harada Ken; 12 February 1919 – 29 January 1997) was a member of the Diet of Japan from the Liberal Democratic Party until resigning his office on 24 January 1989 following alleged involvement in the Recruit scandal, where Harada admitted Recruit had given him donations, in the form of seasonal summer gifts, for ten years. While the donations were not illegal, they raised questions of political ethics which eventually led Harada to resign. As a member of the Diet, Harada served as Director-General of the Economic Planning Agency, and earned the close trust of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita. He was the third minister to resign over the scandal. Harada had been appointed to direct the Economic Planning Agency only one month before his resignation. After party officials had already placed him as the chair of a committee in charge of investigating the Recruit stock scandal, where he had concluded that nothing illegal had taken place. In 1992, Harada backed Keizō Obuchi as new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. Kōichirō Aino replaced Harada as Minister of Economic Planning.