A former education minister denied Thursday a weekly magazine report that his support group illegally handled donations from a school operator at the heart of a favoritism scandal involving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.Hakubun Shimomura, executive acting secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said his support group has never accepted donations from Kake Educational Institution run by a close friend of Abe, nor sold it tickets for his fundraising parties as reported by the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun."The article runs counter to the facts," Shimomura, a close aide of Abe, …READ FULL ARTICLE
