The national accounting watchdog released a report Thursday on the murky sale of state land in 2016 involving a school operator close to the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but fell short of identifying why the land was sold at a heavily discounted price.
With the report, the Board of Audit of Japan is expected to close its investigation into the Moritomo Gakuen case. It also did not seek punishment on Finance Ministry officials who falsified relevant documents, saying that they have already retired or been reprimanded by the government.
One expert was disappointed with the results of the investigation, saying the state auditors failed to dig deeply into the alleged cronyism that has occasionally dented the Abe administration's support ratings.