Abe accused of giving cash:

Asia

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen ($9,000) through his wife for a school run by ultranationalist educators, the group’s leader told Parliament on Thursday, while also suggesting a land-buying scandal involving the school had “political influence” behind it.

First lady Akie Abe had been honorary principal of the elementary school for several months until resigning two weeks after the scandal erupted in early February.

In his sworn testimony in Parliament, Yasunori Kagoike, head of the Moritomo Gakuen group, said Akie Abe handed him the cash in an envelope on behalf of her husband during her September 2015 visit to Kagoike’s kindergarten in Osaka.

Abe has denied such a donation took place, but it would have been legal under Japanese law because Osaka is not Abe’s own electoral constituency, which is in Yamaguchi in southern Japan.

Still, Abe and his wife’s ties to Kagoike have raised questions due to his extreme views on history and derogatory expressions about Chinese and Koreans, and the land-buying scandal involving the school has eroded Abe’s support in opinion polls.

Kagoike’s school is known for a curriculum that is seen as resembling that of pre-World War II militaristic Japan. And Kagoike is affiliated with the powerful political lobby Nippon Kaigi, which is believed to be behind Abe’s comeback in 2012 and has become influential in pushing Abe’s ultraconservative platform. (AP)