Abe Knew of Kake Vet School Plan Earlier Than He Claims

May 22, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was aware of a veterinary school plan by Kake Educational Institution in February 2015, nearly two years earlier than he claims, a newly disclosed document showed Monday.

Abe was briefed on the plan in a 15-minute meeting with his friend, Kotaro Kake, the head of the school operator, on Feb. 25, 2015, according to the document. The paper is one of the documents submitted by the Ehime prefectural government to the Diet, the country' parliament, on Monday.

Kake explained that his group aims to offer animal medicine education that meets international standards in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, located in the Shikoku western region without a university to train animal doctors, according to the document.

Abe was quoted as saying, "I like the idea of opening such a new animal medicine university (faculty)."

The document raises questions about Abe's remark at the Diet that he learned of the veterinary school project on Jan. 20, 2017, when the group was picked as the operator of the project in a national strategic special zone in Imabari.

Releasing a statement Monday night, the Kake group said that its chief did not meet with the prime minister in February 2015.

According to an Abe administration source, the prime minister is expected to deny holding the alleged meeting with Kake.

The documents were created by the Ehime prefectural government, which received explanations from the Kake group between February and April 2015.

The prefecture submitted the documents at the request of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.

Ehime Governor Tokihiro Nakamura told reporters in the Ehime city of Iyo on Monday that the prefectural government found the documents at the prefectural office after an investigation.

After the Abe-Kake meeting, Tadao Yanase, then executive secretary to the prime minister, met with the head of the secretariat of the Kake group at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on March 24, 2015.

Yanase said in the meeting that a veterinary medical association strongly opposes the Kake group's animal medicine faculty plan.

In a meeting on April 2 that year, Yanase is believed to have told people related to the Kake group and other officials that the plan was "a matter related to the prime minister."

But Yanase has denied this, saying that a document alleging Yanase made this remark refers to Abe by a title that he usually does not use.

One of the newly released documents, however, showed Yanase made a similar remark using the title that he usually uses. The document quoted Yanase as saying that the project to open a new animal medicine faculty is a matter related to the prime minister and that the government aims to realize it somehow.

In July last year, Abe said that he learned of the group's animal medicine faculty plan on Jan. 20, that year.

At the time, Abe said that Kake had never tried to use his friend's position as prime minister to fulfill his own ambitions or talked with Abe about a project to create such an animal medicine faculty.

In April this year, the Kake group opened the veterinary medicine faculty in Imabari, launching the country's first such university department in more than 50 years. Jiji Press