Moritomo Gakuen, under fire for a questionable land deal with the government, vastly overstated construction costs for a new elementary school in paperwork submitted to the land ministry, records show.
In the documents, the construction costs for the school in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, were said to be about ¥2 billion, almost three times the figure on a contract signed with a construction company, a copy of which prefectural officials made available Monday evening.
On Tuesday, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, who was in office when the deal went down, said the latest revelation might be evidence of a criminal offense.