Prime Minister Shinzo Abe again denied on Tuesday having met in February 2015 with longtime confidant Kotaro Kake — the head of a school operator at the heart of cronyism allegations involving the prime minister — challenging an account revealed in a newly surfaced document.
The memorandum in question, produced in March 2015 by the Ehime Prefectural Government, was submitted to the Diet on Monday.
"I did not meet Mr. Kake on that day. We went through records at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday, but couldn't confirm" such a meeting took place, Abe told reporters.
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