Aso Apologizes for Discarding Records on Land Deal Talks

May 27, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso on Friday apologized for his ministry's discarding of records on negotiations on a controversial discount sale of state land.

"This is very grave, and I offer a deep apology," Aso told a press conference.

While expressing his intention to punish officials involved, Aso declined to resign as finance minister over the matter.

"I'll fulfill my responsibility by responding properly to a series of issues" involving the ministry, he said.

The ministry said Wednesday it started discarding the records on land sale negotiations with school operator Moritomo Gakuen when the huge discount came to light in February.

The discarding was designed to ensure consistency with parliamentary remarks by a senior ministry official that the records had been discarded.

Moritomo Gakuen was once linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie. When asked whether she was involved in the discount land sale, Aso said the pricing was not influenced by her.

Hiroshi Kajiyama, state minister in charge of managing public documents, urged government agencies to comply with rules such as digitizing documents.

Kajiyama said the government will consider measures to prevent such mishandling of public documents while closely watching further developments. Jiji Press