Yasunori Kagoike, president of the Moritomo Gakuen group, also said there “probably” was political influence behind it securing a huge discount on public land in Osaka earmarked for its proposed new school.
The scandal, which has already taken a toll on the Abe government’s popularity, began with revelations that Moritomo Gakuen had purchased land at just one-seventh of the appraised value.
Abe denies any connection to the land deal and has said he would resign if he was shown to be personally involved. The first lady was originally listed as the honorary principal for the planned school, but stood down after the controversy broke.
Kagoike claimed he received the envelope when Akie Abe gave a speech at the kindergarten in September 2015. The two were allegedly alone in a room.
“She said, ‘please, this is from Shinzo Abe,’ and gave me an envelope with 1m yen in it,” Kagoike told a parliamentary committee on Thursday. “Abe’s wife apparently says she doesn’t remember this at all, but since this was a matter of honour to us, I remember it quite vividly.”
The prime minister last week categorically rejected the donations claims, but Kagoike’s statement may carry greater weight with the public now he has repeated it under oath to parliament. Kagoike is the first sworn witness summoned in nearly five years and false claims can attract perjury charges.
The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, repeated the denials on Thursday and played down the possibility of Akie Abe being asked to testify to clear up the contradiction.
“We have to be cautious about summoning people over acts that present no legal issue,” Suga told reporters.
Kagoike is linked to Nippon Kaigi, a nationalist lobby group that wants to rewrite the US-authored pacifist constitution and whose members include Shinzo Abe and more than a dozen cabinet colleagues.
In an address to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan later on Thursday, Kagoike gave an insight into why he had decided to speak out so forcefully against a prime minister whom he believed was doing a “wonderful job” overall.
Kagoike said he did not want to be “used as a scapegoat” for the land discount scandal and was angry that the Abes had backed away from their previous messages of support for the group’s educational philosophies.
The kindergarten has attracted attention for requiring its young pupils to bow before portraits of the imperial family, sing the national anthem daily, and learn the 1890 imperial rescript on education, which emphasises sacrifice for the country.
Parents of some former pupils have asked officials in Osaka to investigate claims of borderline abuse and racism.
The finance ministry has said the land price was cut from 956m yen to 134m yen to take account of the cost of removing industrial waste on the site. But the school plans have been withdrawn amid conflicting claims about construction costs, and the ministry plans to buy back the block.
The defence minister, Tomomi Inada, was drawn into the saga last week when the former lawyer apologised for wrongly denying to parliament that she had represented the school operator in a 2004 case.
Opinion polls published this month show the cabinet’s approval ratings have fallen by between three and 10 points, but still remain at about 50%. An election is due late next year.
More about: #Japan
