The former head of a nationalist school operator and his wife, who were at the center of a cronyism scandal linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, were found guilty Wednesday of receiving ¥56.4 million ($512,000) in central government subsidies illegally for the construction of an elementary school.
At the Osaka District Court, Yasunori Kagoike, the 67-year-old former chief of Moritomo Gakuen, was also convicted of unlawfully receiving local government subsidies and sentenced to five years in prison. His 63-year-old wife Junko was given a three-year jail term suspended for five years.
The two were convicted of defrauding the central government of the ¥56.4 million between March 2016 and February 2017, by overcharging for the construction of an elementary school in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, on land purchased from the government.