Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a potential challenger to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for president of the Liberal Democratic Party this fall, apparently took a veiled crack at Abe's handling of the Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Gakuen cronyism scandals while stumping in Shikoku over the weekend.
"It's wrong to speak as if something that has happened did not happen. It's wrong to keep evading," the former secretary-general said while stumping in Tokushima Prefecture on Sunday.
The remarks were taken as references to two scandals heavily linked to Abe or his wife, Akie. Shinzo Abe has denied involvement in both.