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23-01-2010 |
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Japanese prosecutors have
questioned Ichiro Ozawa, the
'kingmaker' of the ruling
coalition, over an alleged funding
scandal that has rocked the
centre-left government. Mr
Ozawa, 67, secretary general
of Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama's Democratic Party
of Japan (DPJ), appeared for
questioning at a Tokyo hotel
after weeks of refusals,
Japanese public broadcaster
NHK and Jiji Press said.
More than 200 reporters and
photographers swarmed outside
the building waiting for Mr
Ozawa, often dubbed the
government's "shadow shogun."
The affair has dealt a serious blow to Mr Hatoyama, who has seen his public support slide rapidly ahead of a national election in July seen as a test for the DPJ's ability to hold on to power over the long term. Prosecutors have raided Mr Ozawa's offices and arrested three of his former or current aides to investigate whether he took millions of dollars in bribes from construction firms and invested the money in Tokyo property. Mr Ozawa, the veteran of Japanese backroom politics and the architect of last summer's landslide election win, has angrily professed his innocence and publicly questioned the motives of the prosecutors. |
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