Kake Denies Again Meeting with Abe over Vet School Plan

October 9, 2018

Imabari, Ehime Pref.- The head of a school operator at the center of favoritism allegations against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied again on Sunday that he met with Abe in February 2015 to discuss a controversial veterinary school project.

Kotaro Kake, head of Kake Educational Institution and an old friend of Abe, said he has had his business trip record checked but the secretariat of the institution has found no record for such a meeting. He was speaking at a news conference in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan.

The institution has denied that the meeting was held, while Yoshihito Watanabe, head of the institution's secretariat, has said he had given the Ehime prefectural government false information.

Kake said Watanabe gave the prefectural government an explanation that would lead to misunderstanding, in an effort to get things going. He offered an apology.

The Kake institution opened a veterinary school in April this year in a national strategic deregulation zone in Imabari, the first such university department in Japan in more than 50 years.

Before parliament in July 2017, Abe said he had not known of the institution's veterinary school plan before it was approved by the central government on Jan. 20 that year.

But according to documents drawn up by the Ehime prefectural government following an explanation from an official of the institution and submitted to parliament in May this year, Abe and Kake held a meeting on Feb. 25, 2015. The documents said Abe praised the veterinary school plan during the meeting.

Kake met the press for the first time since June. The Ehime prefectural government and assembly had urged him to give explanations to clear up questions about the issue. Jiji Press