Shinzo Abe has been forced to deny he made a financial donation to a Japanese religious school, as a growing scandal over its cut-price purchase of public land personally embroiled the Japanese prime minister.
The escalating allegations over Mr Abe’s involvement make the affair the most serious threat to Japan’s political stability since he was elected in 2012 on a pledge to revive the country’s economy and escape from more than two decades of on-and-off deflation.
Mr Abe’s denial, communicated via a spokesman on Thursday, followed reports that the Moritomo Gakuen school’s principal had claimed Akie Abe, the prime minister’s wife, made a ¥1m ($8,800) donation on his behalf in 2015.