Japanese ministry to admit ‘doctoring documents’

TOKYO: Japan’s finance ministry will admit altering documents related to cronyism allegations against Shinzo Abe, media said yesterday, a major blow to the premier who enjoys relatively high public support.

If confirmed, the news will also heap pressure on finance minister Taro Aso who insisted on Friday he would not resign.

The reports come after a finance ministry official, who was reportedly at the heart of a scandal over the cut-price sale of government-owned land to a close friend of Abe, was found dead and a second key official stepped down on Friday.

The ministry will report today to the parliament that some of the descriptions in the land sale documents were removed before being submitted to MPs, media said.

The Mainichi Shimbun reported it was “likely that the documents had been altered to be coherent with” the speech made in parliament by Nobuhisa Sagawa who stepped down as the head of the National Tax Agency over the scandal.

“It is possible that Sagawa instructed the alterations,” the newspaper said, citing government sources.

The scandal has dogged Abe since it first emerged last February, though the premier has consistently denied any wrongdoing and his approval ratings remain solid with political opposition to him weak.

According to local media, the land was sold for one tenth of its market value.

The buyers had announced plans to name Abe’s wife Akie the honorary principal of a school being built on the same plot.

Abe says his wife had only “reluctantly” accepted the post of honorary principal and had since “resigned”. – AFP