Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama said on Wednesday that he naturally believes DPJ Secretary
General Ichiro Ozawa`s claim that he is innocent of accounting
irregularities involving his fund management body, noting they
are comrades who together achieved a change in government.
The prime minister said that the prosecutors`
investigation will reveal whether the No. 2 figure in the
ruling Democratic Party of Japan had a hand in the alleged
misreporting of political funds.
The remarks came amid news reports that Ozawa may not be
indicted despite being questioned by prosecutors as a suspect.
"You ask on what grounds do I believe Ozawa, but isn`t it
natural for me to believe first the words `I`m innocent`
expressed by a DPJ comrade who achieved a change of power?"
Hatoyama said at a House of Councillors plenary session.
"`It is my thinking that the investigation will reveal
whether there are facts that back up his (alleged) violation
of the law as reported."
Hatoyama and Ozawa, his immediate predecessor as DPJ
president, led the DPJ to a historic victory over the
long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the House of
Representatives election last summer.
Earlier in the day, Hatoyama told reporters he will
calmly watch developments in the investigation as prosecutors
are in the middle of their probe.
"I have no other option but to take that position," he
said, while declining to comment on whether Ozawa should
resign from the powerful secretary general post in the event
he is indicted over the case, calling it a hypothetical
question.
PTI
