Photo/Illutration Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister and policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, declares his candidacy in the party’s presidential election at a news conference on Aug. 26. (Koichi Ueda)

Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister who is seeking to be Japan’s next prime minister, denied indicating a reinvestigation is needed into a scandal over the dodgy sale of state-owned land for a private school. 

Kishida, who is also a former policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Aug. 26 declared his candidacy in the party’s presidential election, which turned into a race to choose a successor to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga after he bowed out of it.

In an online show broadcast on Sept. 6, Kishida referred to comments he made in a TV program aired by Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS) Inc. on Sept. 2.

During the Sept. 2 broadcast, Kishida was asked about the need to launch a new probe into the dubious sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen, a school operator linked to the wife of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The widow of an official at the Finance Ministry’s Kinki Local Finance Bureau whose suicide in 2018 was related to the scandal is demanding that the government disclose the truth about the ministry’s falsification of official documents over the land sale.

“It is up to the public (to decide on whether a reinvestigation is necessary),” Kishida said. “The government must provide a further explanation to respond to calls from members of the public. (If I win the presidential election,) I will fulfill accountability until they are convinced.”

In the Sept. 6 show, Kishida was also asked about the possibility that those remarks prompted Abe to back Sanae Takaichi, a former communications minister, who expressed her intention to run in the presidential election.

Kishida said he has no idea how Abe interpreted his comments on the handling of the scandal and stopped short of elaborating on what he meant by those remarks.

“Once administrative and judicial decisions on the matter are finalized, the government should offer an explanation when asked about it. It is nothing more and nothing less,” Kishida said.

Kishida noted that Abe, who set the record for the longest consecutive tenure as Japan’s prime minister, has a large network of political connections and maintains a huge influence in the LDP.

Kishida also said he feels close to Abe because they were first elected to the Diet in the same year and both served as the director of the party’s Youth Division.

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