Japan's Sagawa on document alteration scandal

Nobuhisa Sagawa, the former head of Japan's National Tax Agency who stepped down amidst the government land sale scandal is giving his sworn testimony in the Japanese Diet today, and his statements are providing the Japanese Parliament insight into how the scandal developed while they try to determine who is ultimately responsible for the debacle.

Key highlights

Sagawa is responding to Parliamentary questions about government document tampering, leading with an apology for hurting the public trust. Sagawa has stated that there was no report to the Prime Minister's office about the altered documents, essentially absolving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of any involvement in the scandal, and Sagawa went further to state under oath that PM Abe's wife, Akie Abe, did not order the documents to be altered, nor did the Prime Minister himself. Further testimony is expected throughout the week.