MOF Official Tried to Secretly Replace Moritomo Document at Transport Ministry

June 6, 2018

Tokyo- Over a controversial state land sale to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, a Ministry of Finance official tried to secretly replace a related document kept at the transport ministry with a falsified one, the MOF's internal investigation has found.

The attempt was made when the MOF Financial Bureau official visited the transport ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau around late April 2017, according to a report on the investigation released on Monday.

But the attempt failed because an official at the aviation bureau, suspicious about the visiting MOF official's intentions, did not lend the original of the document but presented a copy of it.

As a result, the two ministries later submitted different versions of the document to the Board of Audit.

After the land sale to Moritomo Gakuen at a massive discount came to light in February 2017, more than 300 sections of related MOF documents were manipulated, including the removal of references to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, once appointed honorary principal of an elementary school the group planned to open at the site.

On Monday, the MOF announced punishments for a total of 20 former and incumbent officials involved in the misconduct, including then Financial Bureau chief Nobuhisa Sagawa. Jiji Press