A cronyism scandal that rocked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration two years ago has suddenly been resurrected, threatening the administration again.
The wife of a former Finance Ministry official who killed himself in March 2018 filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the ministry and Nobuhisa Sagawa, former chief of its financial bureau, seeking damages of ¥110 million.
The plaintiff alleges that, in 2017, Sagawa and other ministry officials forced Toshio Akagi, then 54, to falsify government documents recording details of a dubious land transaction involving school operator Moritomo Gakuen that went on to become the topic of a high-profile scandal.