March 24, 2018
Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Miyamoto Takeshi and lawmakers of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Party of Hope on March 23 interviewed Kagoike Yasunori, former president of the Moritomo Gakuen school corporation, at a detention center in Osaka.
Kagoike was arrested on suspicion of state subsidy fraud last July and has been kept in custody at the Osaka Detention House for eight months.
The lawmakers gave the press a briefing about their interview with Kagoike and stressed the need to summon Prime Minister Abe’s wife, Akie, to speak before the Diet under oath.
In the interview, Kagoike testified that he telephoned the first lady and Tani Saeko, a government official serving as assistant to Akie, several times to inform them of the progress regarding the state land deal. He talked about this fact for the first time during the interview.
As the reason why Moritomo Gakuen was enabled to receive preferential treatment of an 800-million-yen discount on the purchase of state land, Kagoike said that the Finance Ministry and its local bureau probably took into account his close relationship with the first lady.
Kagoike also confirmed that it is true that Akie advised him to proceed with the land purchase. In the Finance Ministry document scandal, Akie’s advice was included in the dozens of descriptions deleted from the original official records regarding the land sale to Moritomo.
Past related articles:
> Finance Ministry admits to falsification of official documents regarding state land sale to Moritomo [March 13, 2018]
> Kagoike’s testimony damages Abe gov’t [March 25, 2017]
Kagoike was arrested on suspicion of state subsidy fraud last July and has been kept in custody at the Osaka Detention House for eight months.
The lawmakers gave the press a briefing about their interview with Kagoike and stressed the need to summon Prime Minister Abe’s wife, Akie, to speak before the Diet under oath.
In the interview, Kagoike testified that he telephoned the first lady and Tani Saeko, a government official serving as assistant to Akie, several times to inform them of the progress regarding the state land deal. He talked about this fact for the first time during the interview.
As the reason why Moritomo Gakuen was enabled to receive preferential treatment of an 800-million-yen discount on the purchase of state land, Kagoike said that the Finance Ministry and its local bureau probably took into account his close relationship with the first lady.
Kagoike also confirmed that it is true that Akie advised him to proceed with the land purchase. In the Finance Ministry document scandal, Akie’s advice was included in the dozens of descriptions deleted from the original official records regarding the land sale to Moritomo.
Past related articles:
> Finance Ministry admits to falsification of official documents regarding state land sale to Moritomo [March 13, 2018]
> Kagoike’s testimony damages Abe gov’t [March 25, 2017]
