The head of a veterinary school operator at the center of a political scandal in Japan denies he ever had a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss a school project.

Kotaro Kake heads the Kake Educational Institution, which opened a vet school in a government deregulation zone in the city of Imabari in Ehime Prefecture earlier this year.

The school project has been at the center of a favoritism scandal involving Abe.

Kake spoke to reporters on Tuesday about documents Ehime Prefecture submitted to the Diet in May. The records state that the chief secretary of the school said Kake met with Abe to discuss the school project in February 2015, before Imabari applied to the government to open the school.

Kake said he and Abe have been friends for decades, but that he has made it a rule not to talk about his business with the prime minister. He said they never discussed the school project.

He said there was no meeting as described in the prefectural documents, nor does he have any memory of such a meeting.

Earlier, Abe denied meeting Kake on the date referred to in the documents.

The chief secretary of the school has also said the meeting never took place and apologized to the prefecture for the misinformation.

Kake said the chief secretary will receive a pay cut, and that he himself will voluntarily give up part of his allowance.

Source: ANNnewsCH