Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday denied the Finance Ministry's document-tampering and disposal bids were triggered by his pledge in February last year to resign if evidence was found proving he or his wife were involved in the steep discount on state land bought by a nationalist school entity.
The ministry admitted last week that it disposed of the documents to conceal its negotiations with Osaka-based Moritomo Gakuen, which had ties with Abe's wife, Akie, and received a steep discount on land it bought from the ministry for a school.
The ministry said it doctored the documents to ensure they would not contradict the Diet remarks of a senior bureaucrat who denied the ministry had held talks with Moritomo before the June 2016 land deal.