KOBE (Kyodo) After reneging on its winning bid for a tract of government-owned land, a school corporation headed by a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker acquired the property through a third party for ¥70 million less than it had originally pledged, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Shigeo Omae, 66, a second-term member of the House of Representatives who served as a parliamentary secretary of defense under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2006, heads the board of directors of the corporation, Omae Gakuen.
The corporation, which runs the Koei Gakuin vocational school in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, outbid rivals in a public auction for the 730-sq.-meter tract of land in the city in December 2007.