Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not donate money to the operator of a nationalist school at the heart of a scandal that is chipping away at the government’s support ratings, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday.
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not donate money to the operator of a nationalist school at the heart of a scandal that is chipping away at the government’s support ratings, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday.
Suga said he had confirmed with Abe that he had not made such a donation himself or through a third party including his wife, Akie. He added that the government was checking whether Akie had made donation as a private person.
The school’s principal, who said last week he was resigning, told a group of parliamentarians earlier in the day that money donated by Abe was included in funds for an elementary school he had planned to open next month.
“According to what I confirmed with the prime minister, the prime minister himself made no donation,” Suga told a news conference.
