LDP Rejects Opposition Call for Testimony by Ehime Gov.

May 15, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday rejected an opposition request for parliamentary testimony by Ehime Governor Tokihiro Nakamura over a favoritism scandal involving Kake Educational Institution.

Kiyomi Tsujimoto, parliamentary affairs head of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, met with her LDP counterpart, Hiroshi Moriyama, to request unsworn testimony by Nakamura over the scandal.

She also sought sworn testimony by industry ministry executive Tadao Yanase, former executive secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Moriyama rejected the requests immediately.

At the center of the scandal is a plan by Kake, run by a friend of Abe, to open a university veterinary medicine faculty in a national strategic special zone for deregulation in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan. The faculty opened last month as the country's first such university department in more than 50 years.

Last week, Yanase admitted in unsworn parliamentary testimony that he met with people related to Kake in 2015 before the school plan was approved.

He did not clearly admit meeting Ehime and Imabari government officials, while the Ehime governor told a press conference last week that it was clear Yanase met the local officials.

After the meeting between Tsujimoto and Moriyama, five opposition parties agreed to continue requesting parliamentary testimony by Nakamura and Yanase. It is necessary to determine which side is telling the truth, Tsujimoto told reporters. Jiji Press