Japan PM denies claim he donated to scandal-hit school

Fresh trouble lands in for Japanese PM Shinzo Abe as a Japanese school operator at the centre of a land and political scandal has testified in parliament that he donated 1 million yen ($ 9,000)

Tokyo, Mar 23: The head of an ultra-nationalistic Japanese school operator at the centre of a land and political scandal has testified in parliament that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen (approximately Rs 6 lakh) through his wife for an elementary school where she once was honorary principal.

Yasunori Kagoike, head of the Moritomo Gakuen group, said First Lady Akie Abe handed him the cash in an envelope on behalf of her husband during her September 2015 visit to Kagoike's kindergarten in Osaka.

Abe has denied the donation or any influence in the scandal stemming from a 2016 state property sale to Kagoike at one-seventh of its appraised price. Such a donation is not illegal. Kagoike's school is known for a curriculum that resembles that of pre-World War II militaristic Japan.

PTI