Ruling bloc rejects fresh demand to summon Abe’s wife

November 28, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's ruling bloc on Monday rejected a fresh demand from opposition parties to summon Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, for testimony in the Diet over the sale of state-owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen.

At an executive meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, the ruling bloc described Akie as a private citizen and insisted that it is necessary to be cautious about summoning such a person.

She was once named as honorary principal of an elementary school that Moritomo Gakuen planned to open at the site in Osaka Prefecture, which the group bought with a huge discount.

The opposition camp is set to continue demanding parliamentary testimony from her and government officials concerned, including National Tax Agency Commissioner Nobuhisa Sagawa, a former chief of the Finance Ministry's Financial Bureau who was involved in the land sale.

On Monday, the opposition side also called for summoning Kotaro Kake, head of school operator Kake Educational Institution and a friend of Abe, and Tadao Yanase, vice minister for international affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and a former secretary to the prime minister, over the government's recent approval for the group's veterinary school plan. Jiji Press