The Ground Self-Defense Force failed to report to then-defense chief Tomomi Inada that it had found activity logs in March 2017 for troops in Iraq, even as she denied their existence during Diet deliberations the previous month, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Wednesday.
The latest revelation comes as another potential blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, already embroiled in a cronyism scandal over a heavily discounted sale of state land to a school operator with ties to his wife, Akie.
The GSDF reported to the ministry in January this year that it had found the logs, even though the documents were discovered over nine months before.