The troubled Osaka school operator at the center of national political scrutiny applied for protection from creditors on Friday via court-mediated rehabilitation.
The links alleged between nationalism-espousing school firm Moritomo Gakuen and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie, who promoted it, have been extensively investigated in recent months since it acquired a piece of state-owned land last year at a dramatic discount.
The school will try to rebuild its finances after incurring large debts connected with the elementary school, which it had hoped to open on the new but apparently polluted piece of land this month in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture.