TOKYO, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso will not attend a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs in Argentina next week but will appear at a parliamentary session over a state document altering scandal, public broadcaster NHK said Thursday.
After the Finance Ministry admitted this week that it had deliberately altered documents connected to the sale of state-owned land to a nationalist school operator with connections to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, Aso has been under close scrutiny.
Lawmakers will quiz Aso in an Upper House Budget Committee session on Monday.
While Aso has apologized for the scandal and described it as regrettable, opposition parties have been ardently calling for Aso, who also serves as deputy prime minister, to step down to account for his ministry's involvement in the document-tampering scandal.
Aso, however, has maintained he will continue in his role as the finance minister.
The Finance Ministry, in Aso's absence, will send State Minister of Finance Minoru Kihara to the G-20 meeting in Buenos Aires on Monday and Tuesday. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will also be in attendance.
The finance ministers and central bankers are expected to discuss the recent protectionist moves by U.S. President Donald Trump, which have rattled stock markets amid concerns of a trade war.
Stricter regulations and monitoring of cryptocurrency exchanges after a massive hacking incident in Tokyo recently are also slated to be discussed at the meeting.
