Japan’s embattled prime minister hit back at critics on Monday over a favoritism and cover-up scandal that has seen his popularity plunge and loosened his iron grip on power. In a hotly awaited statement in parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed he had not ordered bureaucrats to alter documents relating to a controversial land sale as he comes under mounting pressure over the scandal. ADVERTISEMENTThe scandal surrounds the 2016 sale of state-owned land to a nationalist operator of schools, who claims ties to Abe and his wife Akie. ADVERTISEMENTThe scandal is harming Abe’s hopes of winning re-election as head of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in September, which would make him Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. Abe insisted that, even before the alterations, the documents showed that his hands were clean.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 19, 2018 02:26 UTC