Japanese opposition lawmakers on Friday urged a former finance official to testify in parliament about a suspected cronyism scandal that could pose a risk to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s support and hurt his push to revise the pacifist constitution. Suspicions that a school operator with ties to Abe’s
Japanese opposition lawmakers on Friday urged a former finance official to testify in parliament about a suspected cronyism scandal that could pose a risk to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s support and hurt his push to revise the pacifist constitution.
Suspicions that a school operator with ties to Abe’s wife, Akie, got a sweetheart deal on land for a school in the western city of Osaka helped erode the premier’s popularity last year. The former head of the school operator and his wife were arrested in July on suspicion of illegally receiving subsidies.
Abe, who has repeatedly denied that he or his wife did favours for former Moritomo Gakuen head Yasunori Kagoike, subsequently led his ruling coalition to a sweeping election win in October and his ratings have recovered to around 50 percent.
Revelations that the finance ministry had kept documents about the sale of government-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen have reignited concerns over the affair.