NAN-F-34
Scandal
Tokyo, June 15, 2017 (Reuters/NAN) Japan’s Education Ministry says it has found documents that can back up opposition parties’ suspicion that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used his influence to unfairly help a friend set up a school business.
Abe has repeatedly denied abusing his authority to benefit his friend, and his grip on power is not in danger.
However, the affair has chipped away at Abe’s support, according to opinion polls, and it looks unlikely to fade away.
“I am taking this result seriously,’’ Education Minister Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference, referring to the unearthing of the documents during a second investigation, after an initial one found nothing.
The Asahi newspaper reported in May that it had obtained documents showing that the Cabinet Office had told the Education Ministry that Abe wanted a new veterinary school run by a friend to be approved.
The report led to opposition questions about the process by which the government decided to allow a veterinary department to be set up in a state special economic zone.
This development came up because the government did not approve such departments in decades because of concern about a glut of veterinarians.
Opposition politicians and the media have identified Abe’s friend as Kotaro Kake, the director of the Kake Educational Institution, which wants to open the veterinary department.
An official at the institution declined to make immediate comment on Thursday, and Kake was not available for comment.
The Kake Educational Institution had issued a statement in May that it was following the procedure necessary to set up a veterinary department and it abided by the law.
Abe told parliament that being a friend of the school operator did not mean he had helped the institution get permission to open a new school.
The affair is Japan’s second political controversy linked to a school in recent months.
In the other case, an educational group with ties to Abe’s wife got what critics said was a favorable land deal to build a school.
Abe’s wife, Akie, and Abe denied any wrongdoing in connection with that case.
A voter survey by public broadcaster NHK had showed that 48 per cent of those polled said that they supported the Abe government, down three percentage points from a month ago.
The disapproval rating for the government rose six percentage points to 36 per cent. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Ese E. Ekama