Ozawa maintains innocence after meeting again prosecutors
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Democratic Party of Japan Secretary- General Ichiro Ozawa said Monday that he again met prosecutors on Sunday, and maintained his innocence in a scandal involving the purchase of land in Tokyo using undeclared funds.
In question is the origin of some 400 million yen (US$4.4 million) that Ozawa gave to his fund body Rizunkai in 2004 to fund the purchase of land and led the arrest of two former aides and a current aide in January.
"I am willing to cooperate with prosecutors as much as possible on this issue," Ozawa said at a news conference Monday.
The prominent DPJ politician also maintained that he had no awareness of any wrongdoing carried out by people associated with his funds body.
While he refused to accept being involved with any wrongdoing, the DPJ strongman said his responsibility "will be heavy" if he is ever charged.
Meanwhile, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper on Monday said that 76 percent of the people it surveyed believed that Ozawa should resign from his role as secretary-general of the DPJ.
Opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki on Monday accused Ozawa of being the real power behind an undemocratic DPJ, and said that the funds scandal was "extremely abnormal."
In response, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said "I believe prosecutors will carry out a fair investigation, and I will follow and assess it in a calm manner."
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