Kake Chief Denies Meeting with Abe over Vet School Plan

June 19, 2018

Okayama- Kotaro Kake, head of Kake Educational Institution, on Tuesday denied that he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in February 2015 over its controversial veterinary school plan.

"I can't remember it, and no related record exists," Kake said of the meeting at a press conference at the institution's head office in the western Japan city of Okayama.

His comments came after the institution late last month said that it had falsely reported to the prefectural government of Ehime, western Japan, and the city government of Imabari in Ehime that Abe and Kake met to discuss the veterinary school plan.

Documents made by the prefectural government say that Abe and Kake met on Feb. 25, 2015, citing an explanation from an institution official. According to the documents, the official said Abe praised the veterinary school plan during the meeting.

This contradicts Abe's remarks before the Diet, the country's parliament, that he came to know of the plan on Jan. 20, 2017, when the institution was named the operator of the veterinary school project in a national strategic special zone in Imabari.

The Kake group now denies what the documents say, claiming that the official made up the Abe-Kake meeting, though no such session happened, when reporting about it to the local governments.

On Tuesday, the group's head said he may have talked about the plan with Abe for the first time after his institution was selected as the operator. Asked whether the timing was on or later than Jan. 20, 2017, Kake said, "I think it was."

Kake said the official gave the false information to move forward with the plan to establish the university veterinary faculty. He apologized over the problem, but he denied instructing the official to provide any false information to the local governments.

Kake spoke about the school project in public for the first time since allegations emerged of the Abe administration's favoritism to the institution over the school plan.

Kake said he will take a 10 pct pay cut for 12 months. Meanwhile, Yoshihito Watanabe, the senior institution official who gave the false information, will see a 10 pct reduction for six months.

The group head also said that he had seen Tadao Yanase, executive secretary to Abe at that time, at various meetings but never talked about the plan.

Asked about his relations with Abe, Kake said: "We've been friends for decades. We make a point of not talking about business." Jiji Press