Japan Press Weekly

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2017 March 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

Osaka Pref. Assembly rejects setting up of special commission to probe Moritomo scandal

The Osaka Prefectural Assembly on March 24 rejected a motion to set up a special commission to investigate the allegation concerning the process of permitting the scandal-hit school operator, Moritomo Gakuen, to build an elementary school in Osaka’s Toyonaka City. The Japanese Communist Party voted in favor of the motion.

At the plenary session, Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Komei Party, the largest and the third largest party respectively, voted against the proposal by claiming that it is “too early” to establish an investigative commission.

After the motion was voted down, Osaka Governor Matsui Ichiro told reporters that he will uphold the assembly’s decision. In the meantime, JCP assembly members urged the chair of the assembly’s standing committee on education to convene a meeting immediately in order to look into the allegation.

The Osaka government had originally banned private school operators from opening a primary school using loans if the operator has no experience in running an elementary school. Five months after Ishin party executive Matsui took office as governor in November 2011, however, the prefectural authorities lifted the ban. After this deregulation, it was only Moritomo Gakuen that applied for administrative approval for founding an elementary school in Osaka.