PM Abe's wife really says 'push ahead' over land deal: Ex-Moritomo chief
Jiji -- Mar 24
Yasunori Kagoike, former head of school operator Moritomo Gakuen, who has been indicted for alleged subsidy fraud, told opposition lawmakers Friday that he has certainly heard Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife saying, "Please push ahead," in support of the group's plan to open an elementary school on then state-owned land in Osaka Prefecture.

Kagoike, currently held in an Osaka detention center, made the claim when the members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Kibo no To (Party of Hope) and the Japanese Communist Party visited him there for a 45-minute meeting, according to the lawmakers.

The quoted remark by Akie Abe was included in the original of Ministry of Finance documents related to the massive discount sale of the land plot to Moritomo Gakuen, before the documents were manipulated after the controversial land deal came to light last year.

The opposition camp suspects that ministry consideration for the prime minister's wife was behind the controversial land deal.

According to the original documents, during talks with ministry officials Kagoike quoted Akie as saying, "Please push ahead because it is a good site."

News source: Jiji