Education
Meiji University.
Meiji University.
He was the third minister to resign over the scandal. Harada had been appointed to direct the Ministry of Economic Planning only one month before his resignation. In 1992, Harada backed Keizō Obuchi as new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Koichiro Aino replaced Harada as Minister of Economic Planning.
While the donations were not illegal, they raised questions of political ethics which eventually led Harada to resign. 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.
As a member of the Diet, Harada served as Minister of Economic Planning, and earned the close trust of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita.