The opposition Democratic Party has raised suspicions that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may have been involved in a government decision to approve the subsidized opening of a new department at a university run by a school operator that is headed by his close friend, citing documents it obtained that reportedly show officials discussing "the prime minister's intent" behind the project.
The Abe administration has rejected the suspicion as unfounded. But instead of merely dismissing the credibility of the documents, the administration should fulfill its duty of accountability by clearing up any suspicions surrounding the project, since it would indeed be a serious problem if personal favoritism played any role in government policy.
The suspicion surrounding the Okayama-based Kake Education Institution (Kake Gakuen) was raised following months of scrutiny over the ties between Abe's wife and Moritomo Gakuen, a school operator in Osaka that bought a tract of state-owned land at a drastically reduced price to build a new elementary school. Abe has denied the involvement of himself or his wife in the questionable land deal.