The following is a gist of the sworn Diet testimony given Thursday by Yasunori Kagoike, head of scandal-hit Osaka school operator Moritomo Gakuen. Kagoike said:

He was handed an envelope containing ¥1 million ($8,900) by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, who told him it was from her husband, in September 2015.

He believes politicians were probably involved in the dramatic discount Moritomo Gakuen got for a plot of state-owned land in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, in June 2016.

He was surprised by the subtraction of around ¥800 million from the plot's appraisal price.

He asked a former chair of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly to help him get assistance from Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui in connection with Moritomo Gakuen's application to open an elementary school on the site in question.

He consulted, through Akie Abe, about building the elementary school.

He recently received an email from Akie Abe that could be interpreted as an attempt to silence him.