A contractor involved in a discounted sale of state land linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said it falsified a report regarding buried waste at the government's request, which in turn led to the huge price drop, sources said Friday.
The construction firm that examined the waste buried at the Osaka land plot told prosecutors that it falsely stated — to comply with the demands of the state as well as the buyer, which has ties to Abe's wife — that garbage existed deeper underground than in reality.
The prosecutors are probing the dubious 2016 deal on the suspicion of breach of trust by the Finance Ministry, which manages state properties.