財務省、従来主張繰り返す　与党幕引き図る、野党は追及強化―赤木ファイル

　財務省は２４日、衆院財務金融委員会と参院財政金融委員会の両理事懇談会に、学校法人森友学園への国有地売却をめぐる公文書改ざんの経緯を記した「赤木ファイル」を提出した。非公開で行われた両理事懇の質疑には、財務省の茶谷栄治官房長らが出席。立憲民主党など野党は、改ざんに当時の安倍晋三首相や菅義偉官房長官らの関与があったとみて追及したが、財務省は安倍氏らの指示は確認されていないとの従来の主張を繰り返した。
　政府・与党は２５日告示の東京都議選や秋までに行われる衆院選を控え、ファイル提出で事実上の幕引きとしたい考え。これに対し、野党は真相究明に向け引き続き追及する構えで、両委員会に麻生太郎副総理兼財務相を呼んで閉会中審査を開催するよう要求したが、与党は応じず、筆頭理事間で協議を続けることになった。（2021/06/24-20:57）

Ministry of Finance officials reiterated Thursday that the former and current prime ministers were not involved in the high-profile official document tampering scandal at the elite ministry of Japan.
   At a meeting of executives of the finance committees of both parliamentary chambers, the ministry submitted the "Akagi file," which records how the ministry's official documents on the sale of state land at a huge discount to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, once linked to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, were tampered in 2017. The sale was undertaken by the ministry's Kinki Regional Finance Bureau.
   A member of the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan pointed out that the documents were not able to be falsified without instructions by superiors such as Abe and then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, now prime minister.
   At a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on Feb. 17, 2017, Abe said he would resign as prime minister and a member of the Lower House if his or his wife's alleged involvement in the dubious land sale proved true.
   Five days later, Nobuhisa Sagawa, the ministry's Financial Bureau director-general at the time, briefed Suga on the matter. Sagawa issued his first document tampering instruction on Feb. 26 the same year, according to the file.