The government said Friday it will impose stricter guidelines on the sale of its assets after the discounted sale of state-owned land to a school operator with ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife led to allegations of cronyism.
Finance Minister Taro Aso told a news conference that audit results concluding that an ¥800 million reduction in the sale price to the operator was unjustified should "not be taken lightly" and that the process of selling state assets needs to be made more transparent.
The Board of Audit of Japan said earlier this week that the ¥130 million sale of the 8,770-sq. -meter plot of land in Osaka Prefecture to Moritomo Gakuen, discounted from an appraisal value of ¥950 million to cover the costs of removing waste supposedly buried at the site, was carried out "without careful inspection or consideration."